National poverty rate is down, but not in rural areas, where it has increased among children

The Census Bureau's annual poverty report says 15.2 percent of rural Americans lived in poverty in 2006, a rate "statistically unchanged" from 2005, Reuters reports. Meanwhile, the national poverty rate declined for the first time this decade, down to 12.3 percent from 12.6 percent in 2005, the census report says.

At the same time, the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire reports that "in 37 states, a higher percentage of rural children live in poverty today than in 2000." The South has the highest rate, 27.2 percent, while the national rural child poverty rate is 22.2 percent, the study says. States with the highest rates are Mississippi (34.7 percent), Louisiana (34.4 percent) and New Mexico (30.1 percent). The Southwest trails only the South in terms of rural child poverty. Connecticut (9.1 percent) has the lowest rate.

The stagnant overall rural poverty rate stands in contrast to economic growth, especially in agriculture. "According to the Agriculture Department, net farm income, a gauge of the financial health, was a strong $60 billion in 2006, buoyed by rising grain and soybean prices and the boom in fuel ethanol production," Reuters reports. To explain the disparity between the rural and national rates, the Reuters story cites economists who say "rural residents tend to be older, a lower-earning age group, than the national average."

According to the Carsey Institute, there was a "significant decline" in poverty for people over 65 but no significant decline in poverty for children or adults aged 18 to 64. "Research has shown that good policy and programs can alleviate that poverty – programs that provide early childhood education, making work pay for parents, decent schools, and access to health care," said Cynthia "Mil" Duncan, director of the Carsey Institute. "We shouldn't be going backwards on addressing child poverty in the 21st Century."