US poverty fell in 2020 as government support offset pandemic damage

Figures released by Census Bureau showing drop in poverty rate to 9.1% bolster arguments about effectiveness of state intervention

US poverty fell in 2020, evidence that government aid can lift millions of Americans out of poverty - even in a global health and economic crisis.

The first months of 2020 were marked by unemployment levels unseen since the Great Depression, but the US supplemental poverty rate fell to 9.1% in 2020 from 11.7% the year before, according to Census Bureau estimates released on Tuesday.