The share of public school students who qualify for free or reduced lunch in the United States has grown to 51 percent, in an indication of growing poverty, according to a report released on Friday.
The problem is most acute in Mississippi where 71 percent of students were in that category, according to the report from the Southern Education Foundation.
By comparison, New Hampshire in the Northeast had the lowest rate at 27 percent.
The group identified the share of students from low-income families by analyzing 2013 federal data on children who qualify for free or reduced lunch at school, which is offered to those from families at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, the poverty level is less than $24,000 a year and 185 percent of that figure is about $44,000.
