Washington, Oct 7 (IANS): A study has shown that severe poverty in the US has worsened in 2016, rising to almost half of all those living in poverty.

Severe poverty, which is defined as those with income below half of the poverty level, makes up 45.6 per cent of all those impoverished population, the highest point in 20 years, the study by the Pew Research Centre revealed on Friday.

Severe poverty rate was 39.5 per cent in 1996, the US Census Bureau said.

According to the Census Bureau, the poverty level in 2016 was put at $12,000 for single-person families and $25,000 for a family of four, reports Xinhua news agency.

The median household income for all households was $59,039 in 2016, and $75,062 for family households.

The analysis also revealed that not only the percentage of those in severe poverty has been steadily rising, those in the most extreme cases also saw their income fall further below the poverty line.

The average income difference between those in severe poverty and the poverty line was $10,505 in 2016, up from $9,509 in 2000.

The trend was coupled with a dip in overall poverty rate, which was 12.7 per cent last year, close to the pre-recession level of 12.5 per cent in 2007.