Boasting of having the highest per capita income among all the major

Boasting of having the highest per capita income among all the major ethnic groups, more than eight percent of the nearly three million Indian Americans are living below the poverty line in the U.S., a latest Census report revealed Feb. 20.

According to the 2007-2011 American Community Survey, 42.7 million people in the United States had income below the poverty level. The national poverty rate is 14.7 percent.

With 8.2 percent of poverty rate, Indian Americans are far less poor than other ethnic groups and the national average, the Census Bureau report said.

Japanese Americans too have an 8.2 percent poverty rate. For the Asian population, poverty rates were higher for Vietnamese (14.7 percent) and Koreans (15.0 percent), but Filipinos have the lowest poverty rate of 5.8 percent.

Poverty rates for Vietnamese and Koreans were not statistically different from each other.

According to the report, for Asians, nine states had poverty rates below 10 percent (Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia and South Carolina).

Among Hispanics, national poverty rates ranged from a low of 16.2 percent for Cubans to a high of 26.3 percent for Dominicans.

The U.S. government’s definition of poverty is based on total income received. For example, the poverty level for 2012 was set at an annual income of $23,050 for a family of four.

By Press Trust of India