Today it was reported that

"the latest poverty rate figure for the US is 14.3 percent, which means one in seven Americans are currently living in poverty.
This up from 13.2 percent in 2008, with more than 3.7 million more Americans crossing the poverty threshold in the last year.

Moreover, the 43.6 million people living in poverty is the largest number of poor people in the United States in the 51 years that records have been kept.
The poverty rate rose for every ethnic group except for Asian Americans

About 8.4 percent of young adults ages 25-34 live with their parents according to the Census data, which skews the actual percentage of young adults in poverty.
While their current poverty rate is 8.5 percent, officials stated that the rate would be significantly different if so many were not back under their parents' roofs.

The portion of the population without health insurance also rose from 15.4 percent to 16.7 percent this year — 50.7 million Americans are without health coverage, up from 46.3 million in 2008

A full 26.6 percent of those living below the $25,000/year income mark are currently uninsured. This marks the first year that health care coverage has decreased since the government began keeping records in 1987."

Figures from Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009.

Definitions of poverty vary considerably among nations -

"Many of those classified as poor have cable and satellite television, fridges, air-conditioning units, microwaves and a roof over their heads, even if it is just a caravan in a trailer park. But they have little disposable income and few opportunities to step up the ladder."

Guardian Sept 16