A Decade-Long View of Multidimensional Deprivation in the United States

This paper undertakes a comprehensive analysis of temporal trends in multidimensional deprivation in the United States. It provides, for the first time, estimates of multidimensional deprivation in the United States for an entire decade, from 2008 to 2017, which covers the Great Recession and the recovery following the recession when major policy changes such as the Affordable Care Act were implemented. We measure annual changes in deprivation levels, across states and among demographic groups by age, gender, income, and race. Multidimensional deprivation is estimated using individual data from the American Community Survey, the largest household survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. We find that about 13.5 percent of the U.S. population was deprived in at least two dimensions. Deprivation was high among individuals having income just above the poverty line, among young adults (aged 18 to 24 years), and among Hispanics and foreign-born individuals. In the midst of the Great Recession, more than 15 percent of population was multidimensionally deprived, but deprivation consistently declined during the recovery period