A Statistical Analysis of Poverty #6

Being that it's Thanksgiving I took plenty of time to think about all the great food I will eat, how great it will be to spend time with my family, and all the nice moments I've cherished from past years. However it also made me think about the flip side of the coin, all those who aren't fortunate enough to partake in the same Thanksgiving experience that I am lucky enough to receive every year.

So, embracing this mindset, I decided to a little research on poverty to get a better understanding of the numbers behind poverty in America. Currently in America, there are 45.3 million people living in poverty according to the U.S Census Bureau. Given the 310 million people living in America, that's roughly 15% of the population surviving in sub-par conditions struggling just to make due. Another frightening statistic is that 20% of children live in food insecure households, meaning that access to adequate food is often limited and sparse.

But what is the point of all these numbers? What do they really mean? Well allow me to put it into perspective, imagine you are sitting in class and your teacher decides to separate you into groups of five to do a worksheet, well as you sit down and get ready to go think about the fact that at least one person in your group is probably living in a food-insecure home. Same goes for everywhere else consider it this way, 1 person in every LAB group, 1 person on every volleyball court, 4 players on the football field, 5 people in all of your classes, 1 home within a 1 house radius of you, all living with the threat of hunger hanging over their heads.

It's not a pleasant thing to think about, but it's a real thing. And no my goal was not to depress you on Thanksgiving, or make you feel guilty for what you have, but to maybe inspire everyone to chip in a little and help out those who are in need. 20% is certainly a scary number but it's still the minority. That leaves 80% of households that are perfectly well off and able to help, the only sad part is that most choose not to. Statistically speaking, if everyone of the those 263.5 million remaining people gave just one supply of food to charity, we would outweigh what is needed to supplement the disparity four fold. So this Thanksgiving, give thanks for what you have, and give help to those who don't.