The U.S. poverty rate has dropped for the first time since 2006, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.
In its annual study, the Census Bureau said that the poverty rate in 2013 was 14.5 percent, down from 15 percent in 2012. There were 45.3 million people living in poverty, a statistically similar number for the third straight year.
Officials said that the number of children under 18 in poverty declined from the previous year for the first time since 2000.
The number of children in poverty dropped from 21.8 percent in 2012 to 19.9 percent in 2013, and the number of children in poverty also declined from 16.1 million to 14.7 million.