Dominicans, Puerto Ricans Face The Highest Levels Of Poverty Among Hispanics In The United States

Dominicans and Puerto Ricans living in the United States remain among the groups with the highest levels of poverty in the country, according to numbers released by the Census Bureau.

The data released by the institution showed the level of poverty among Hispanics in general constitutes 11.2 million (23.2 percent.) of a population of about 48.2 million in U.S. territory

Of those Hispanics facing the worst economic status, 26.3 percent are Dominicans and 25.6 percent are Puerto Ricans.

Mexicans and Guatemalans, who both have approximately 25.0 percent, remain on the list in third and fourth place. Cubans had 16.2 percent.

Statistics from the study "Poverty Rates for Selected Detailed Race and Hispanic Groups by State and Place: 2007-2011", confirm that especially in communities originally from the Dominican Republic the level of poverty is lower than for Hispanics in general, African Americans, Asian American, and Hispanic whites.

However, their condition exceedes the situation faced by racial groups like American Indians, Alaska Natives and other Pacific islanders.

During the period from 2007 to 2011 the Dominican population in American territory was estimated at 1,387,724, of which 364.523 lived below poverty levels. Estimates showed that a higher number of Puerto Ricans (4,466,054) at the same time had 1,142,216 people living under the poverty line in the country.

States like Florida, New York, California and Texas where a wide group of Hispanics live nowadays, have high poverty levels ranging from 19.5 to 25.9 percent. Tennessee turned out to be the state that ranked first on the list reporting numbers of poverty among Hispanics of up to a 32.2 percent.

In comparison, the poverty rate reported in the Caribbean country of Dominican Republic by 2011 was of 40.4 percent. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico showed an even a higher number of 45.6 percent during the same period of time.