This week, the Commerce Department announced the federal government will start to use an additional poverty measure, an equation that determines how many people are living in poverty. The supplemental poverty measure will not replace the poverty threshold used to set eligibility criteria for federal and other programs; however, it will be a more accurate measure of how many people living in the U.S. are vulnerable. 

The new formula will include housing, utilites, child care and medical costs. The old calculation (which puts the threshold at $22,000+ annually for a family of four) has not been substantially revised since it was created in the 1960s. The alternate formula will be used in next year's Census report, which will publish both rates.

It's likely poverty rates will increase to almost 16%, or 47.4 million people, according to the Associated Press. To read the full article in the Christian Science Monitor, go to:

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0303/Who-s-poor-in-America-US-tweaks-how-it-defines-poverty