US: The number of Americans living in poverty increased by 1.3 million last year to 35.9 million and the number without health insurance swelled by 1.4 million, the US Census Bureau has reported.
The report is a severe setback for President Bush and provides potent ammunition to the Democratic presidential challenger, Mr John Kerry, who has made healthcare and low-paying jobs cornerstones of his campaign for the presidency.
The number of poor in the US has risen sharply from just before Mr Bush took office, compared to a steady decline during the last of the Clinton years to about 31 million. The rise in the last year was more dramatic for children, with the number of under-18s living in poverty swelling by almost one million to about a third of those below the threshold.
The Census Bureau's definition of poverty varies by the size of the household with the threshold standing at $9,573 or less for a single person under 65 and $18,810 for a family of four. It assumes that a third of the income goes on food.
The number of Americans without healthcare coverage rose by 1.4 million last year to 45 million, the highest level since 1999, according to the annual report which is seen as a key measure of the US economy.
This means that about one in six Americans is without healthcare coverage in a country with some of the world's highest prescription and hospital rates.
Medical insurance rates are going up faster than inflation, which some observers blame on massive produce advertising pharmaceutical companies.
The long-term trend is for companies to offer less generous health benefit plans and, as people lose jobs they tend to lose health insurance coverage, analyst for the Census Bureau, Mr Dan Weinberg, said.
The results were typical of a post-recession period and the increase in the number of people without insurance was due to the uncertain job picture, he added.
Meanwhile median family incomes remained essentially stagnant at $43,318, the Census Bureau said.
Mr Kerry said the new data showed that during the time Mr Bush was in office, 5.2 million people lost health insurance and 4.3 million fell into poverty. The president's economic policies had failed, he said, and "under George Bush's watch, America's families are falling further behind".
Putting a good face on bleak news about healthcare, which has become a central election issue, Health and Human Services Secretary Mr Tommy Thompson, blamed US senators for failing to adopt the president's healthcare plan.
The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr Joe Barton of Texas, noted that while more people lost insurance, there also were about 1 million more Americans with coverage in 2003.
"The bottom line is this: more people in America have health coverage today than at any time in our nation's history and I think that's a fact worth noting, but we can always do more," he said.
Many Democrats criticised the release of the report in late August rather than mid-September, which would be closer to the November 2nd election.