B.R. poverty rate rises in 2010, yet lowest among La. metro areas

Poverty rose significantly across Louisiana last year, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau, highlighting the widespread impact of the recession. While the poverty rate in the Baton Rouge metropolitan area rose to 16.1% in 2010 from 15.6% the year previous, it was the lowest rate among the state’s eight statistical metro areas. The statewide poverty rate was at 18.7% in 2010, up from 17.3% in 2009. “In 2010, Louisiana had the seventh-highest poverty rate in the country, compared to ranking eighth in 2009. Astonishingly, our state’s policies are making the situation worse rather than better,” says Eddie Ashworth, director of the Louisiana Budget Project, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and analysis organization. Baton Rouge also recorded the highest percentage of people with health insurance in the state in 2010. In 2009, 15.2% of those in the Baton Rouge area did not have health insurance; that figure shrank slightly to 14.9% in 2010. To read a fact sheet put together by the Louisiana Budget Project on poverty and health coverage in Louisiana, click here.