2008 Arkansas poverty data

2007 National data and what does an "average" single parent look like?

2009 Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund data

2008 Arkansas Poverty Data

In 2008 Arkansas’s overall poverty rate was 17.3 %. That’s down from 17.9 % the year before but is a statistically significant increase from the rate of 15.4 % in 2007 which was lower than the 2001 rate of 20.3 %. In 2008 Arkansas ranked third in the nation for percent of children below 18 under the poverty level.

Child poverty is alarming because it prohibits children from achieving the start they need to compete later in life. Research reveals that living in poverty as a child results in a variety of negative conditions: higher infant mortality, access to good health, school readiness, behavior and learning problems, access to good nutrition and lost future productivity. When a mother moves out of poverty, she brings her children with her.

In 2008 the majority of poor children in Arkansas lived in single parent families (24.9%). From those families, 79% were female headed with no husband or father in the home. Changing these statistics requires long-term solutions such as postsecondary education which continues to be the most successful pathway to breaking the cycle of poverty, especially for single parent families in Arkansas. Poverty rates for those without a high school diploma or equivalency in 2008 were 26.3% versus 10.9% for those with some college. For those who obtain a bachelor’s degree or higher, the poverty rate falls to a low 3.9%.