An Updated Measure of Poverty: ReDrawing the Line
This report recommends updating the methodology used by the Census Bureau to calculate the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to reflect household basic needs and replace the current Official Poverty Measure as the primary statistical measure of poverty. The report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the SPM and provides recommendations for updating its methodology and…
The document is a consensus study report by the National Academies recommending that the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) be updated and adopted as the Principal Poverty Measure (PPM) for the United States.
It calls for modernizing the poverty threshold to better reflect current basic needs—including medical care, childcare, and housing—improving measurement accuracy and transparency, and updating data sources and methodologies to ensure the measure remains relevant for policy and research.
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