New Research Paints a More Detailed Picture of Poverty and Race in America

Posted January 27, 2022

Hispanics account for 17% of the U.S. population but experience nearly a third of its poverty, according to a new study from the Georgia Tech School of Economics. The study evaluates deprivation across racial and ethnic groups using a variety of indicators, such as access to health insurance, education, employment opportunities, and more. The findings have long-term implications for U.S. public policy, the researchers note.

The study by Shatakshee Dhongde, associate professor in Georgia Tech's School of Economics, and Xiaoyu Dong, a fifth-year Ph.D. student, is the most robust analysis of multidimensional poverty in the U.S. to date.

Multidimensional poverty "captures what we call quality of life, rather than just income," Dhongde explained. "Income can be an indicator, but it is only one of the quality-of-life indicators. It shouldn't be treated as the most important one."

Dong added: "We want to capture more about what's going on, instead of just one threshold, because this threshold does not tell the whole story of people's lives." 

Dhongde and Dong used U.S. Census data from 2009 to 2018 to measure well-being among white, Black, Hispanic, and Native American populations according to the deprivations they experience. The numbers show a stark contrast with official Census reports, which pegged the poverty rate for Hispanics at 17% in 2020, while Dhongde and Dong measured it as higher than 30% with multidimensional poverty indexes. Without them, the Census misses many people living with deprivation.  

Their findings on Hispanic deprivation also show a higher degree of inequality in that group than among Black Americans, for example, who make up about 13% of the U.S. population and about 17% to 18% of the people experiencing poverty. As the Hispanic population grows in the U.S., this inequality will also increase, Dhongde said, but information like this can help policymakers decide where to focus efforts, which groups to target with help, and what actions will have the most impact in their communities. 

"For example, if we compare different racial groups, we see that Black Americans have high deprivation levels in terms of income, and Native Americans and Hispanics without any health insurance,” Dhongde said. “So, it's giving you much more laser-focused policy solutions, saying that, yes, we know minority groups have large poverty levels, but what are the different deprivations that they are facing?"  

The protests during the summer of 2020 "brought to the forefront issues related to economic hardships among different racial/ethnic groups," Dong wrote in the study. But looking at the bigger picture of poverty in America by including education, employment opportunities, and access to health care can provide a better understanding of these economic hardships in the search for solutions.  

"If you look at these indicators as indicators of well-being or as indicators of your quality of life, it doesn't matter only for people who are below the poverty threshold, but for the entire society," Dhongde said. 

"Analyzing Racial and Ethnic Differences in the USA through the Lens of Multidimensional Poverty" was published in the Journal of Economics, Race and Policy: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41996-021-00093-2

Dhongde's work on multidimensional poverty has been featured on NPR, and in US News and World Report, How Stuff Works, and many other outlets. Her previous studies focused on multidimensional poverty during the Great Recession, among senior citizens, and during the Covid pandemic.