NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Poverty in the United States rose for the second straight year in 2002, while median incomes fell for the third straight year, the government said Friday.
The percentage of Americans living in poverty rose to 12.1 percent from 11.7 percent in 2001, the Census Bureau reported, the highest rate since 12.9 percent in 1998.
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 Roderick Harrison, economist at the Joint Center for Political & Economic Studies, talks about the rise of poverty and the decline in income in 2002.
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Median household income fell 1.1 percent to $42,409 from $42,900 in 2001. Median income was $43,848 in 2000 and $43,915 in 1999.
The Census Bureau blamed the recession that began in March 2001 and ended in November 2001 -- according to the National Bureau of Economic Research -- for the changes in both measures.
About 34.6 million people were in poverty in 2002, 1.7 million more than in 2001.
The official definition of poverty depends on family size. For example, the poverty threshold income level for a family of four with two children is $18,244 per year, while the poverty threshold for a family of three with one child is $14,480.
In 2000, the national poverty rate was 11.3 percent.
The Midwest was the only region that saw its poverty level increase, to 10.3 percent from 9.4 percent, between 2002 and 2001. The poverty rates in the Northeast at 10.9 percent, South with 13.8 percent, and the West at 12.4 percent did not change.
Of those people surveyed who reported being a single race, 24.1 percent of African-Americans were in poverty in 2002, up from 22.7 percent in 2001.
The statistic rates for whites (8 percent), Asians ( ranging from 10 percent to 10.3 percent depending on four race definitions) and Hispanics (21.8 percent) did not change.
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