The poverty rate in the U.S. is the most severe since 1997. Poverty now affects almost 40 million U.S. citizens. It is a direct consequence of the recent recession that hit the country since 2007, which in turn made many Americans unemployed. Millions lost their health insurance and evaporated their savings.

The National Academy of Science's formula for poverty levels is gaining credibility with public officials, including some in the Obama administration. Based on a revision of the half-century-old formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations in the cost of living, the poverty rate among older Americans could be nearly twice as high as the traditional 10 percent estimate.

Urban workers could suffer most from climate change as the cost of food drives them into poverty, according to a new study that quantifies the effects of climate on the world's poor populations.

Admittedly the Commonwealth Games don't generate the revenue of the Olympic games, but the clean-up effort that New Delhi is taking on for the 2010 Commonwealth Games looks pretty lame in comparison to what China did for the Beijing Olympic Games. Officials have given up, and are going to curtain off slum dwellers during the games.

(London, UK) The influential British parliamentarian, Lee Scott has spoken up for all carers of people with autism and Asperger's Syndrome in Carers Week. Scott who has been a tireless campaigner for autism in the House of Commons in the Palace of Westmimister has called on the Government to do more for Autism Carers in the United Kingdom.

300 million people are now directly affected by climate change, according to the first comprehensive study of its social impacts. Climate change claims 300,000 lives a year, and costs $125 billion, equivalent to the entire aid budget to the developing world.

I am so grateful that I saw the movie, Slumdog Millionaire. Midway in the movie, as I watched the enormous deprivation of the slum children of India and the predators who diabolically offered them security and community, only to maim them for a life of begging or sell them into the sex trade, I felt the tears roll down my cheeks.

The Food Bank for New York, which has been handing out groceries to poor New Yorkers for 25 years, reports that things are getting bad out there. The number of locals who say they have trouble paying for food has gone up 26 percent in the past recession year -- from 3.1 to 4 million, or about 48 percent of New Yorkers (!).

Rising food prices have left another 40 million people worldwide without enough to eat this year, bringing the total number to 963 million, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on Tuesday.

According to a Reuters report the record number of Americans are using Food stamp.

Simply installing toilets where needed throughout the world and ensuring safe water supplies would do more to end crippling poverty and improve world health than any other possible measure, according to an analysis released today by the United Nations University.

A new study suggests that it may be easier for people living in small metropolitan areas to get out of poverty than it is for those living in large metro areas.