70% of People Living in Concentrated Poverty Reside in the 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas
Asma Lateef, Director, Bread for the World Institute
(Washington, DC, Tuesday, November 22, 2016) – Bread for the World Institute’s annual hunger report, Fragile Environments, Resilient Communities looks at how fragility stands in the way of ending hunger and extreme poverty. Progress in recent decades show that ending hunger is within reach. It is estimated that by 2030, two-thirds of the people who experience hunger will live in fragile states.
The report discusses fragility within the United States – including in communities of “concentrated poverty”—where 40 % or more of the population lives below the poverty line. 70 % of people living in concentrated poverty reside in the 100 largest metropolitan areas, although it is the mid-size and smaller metropolitan areas where concentrated poverty is growing the fastest.
Alarmingly, the number of areas of concentrated poverty is on the rise in the United States, and a greater percentage of poor people live in concentrated poverty communities. People of color are disproportionately represented in these communities. Children raised in concentrated poverty communities often experience violence, have limited access to quality education, and are especially likely to suffer from the long-term health impact of poor nutrition in their early years and exposure to environmental pollution.