The U.S. welfare state is one of the least extensive in the developed world, reducing both relative poverty and absolute poverty by considerably less than the mean for rich nations,[186][187] though combined private and public social expenditures per capita are relatively high.[188] While the American welfare state effectively reduces poverty among the elderly,[189] it provides relatively little assistance to the young.[190] A 2007 UNICEF study of children's well-being in twenty-one industrialized nations ranked the United States next to last.[191]
Between 1947 and 1979, real median income rose by over 80% for all classes, with the incomes of poor Americans rising faster than those of the rich.[192] However,
income gains since then have been slower, less widely shared, and accompanied by increased economic insecurity.[192][193] Median household income has increased for all classes since 1980,[194] largely owing to more dual-earner households, the closing of the gender pay gap, and longer work hours, but the growth has been strongly tilted toward the very top.[186][192][195]
Consequently, the share of income of the top 1%—21.8% of total reported income in 2005—has more than doubled since 1980,[196] leaving the United States with the greatest income inequality among developed nations.[186][197] The United States has a progressive tax system which equates to higher income earners paying a larger percentage of their income in taxes.[198] The top 1% pays 27.6% of all federal taxes, while the top 10% pays 54.7%.[199]
Wealth, like income and taxes, is highly concentrated: The richest 10% of the adult population possesses 69.8% of the country's household wealth, the second-highest share among developed nations.[200] The top 1% possesses 33.4% of net wealth.[201] In 2011 the United Nations Development Programme ranked the United States 23rd among 139 countries on its inequality-adjusted human development index (IHDI), nineteen places lower than in the standard HDI.[202]
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