The U.S Census Bureau says that one in seven Americans was living in poverty in 2009 with the level of working-age poor, the highest since the 1960s. According to official sources, the number of people in poverty increased by nearly 4 million to around 43 million between 2008 and 2009. The bureau defines poverty as any family of four living on less than 22,000 dollars a year. Meanwhile, new figures showed home foreclosures in August hit the highest level since the mortgage crisis began.