Current US Poverty Statistics. Income i. ï· The federal poverty line is $11,892 for individuals and $23,836 for a family of four. ï· The official poverty rate is 14.5%, meaning 45.3 million people in the US live in poverty, up by over 8 million since. 2008. An additional 97.3 million (33%) of people living in the United States are low-income, defined as incomes. below twice the federal poverty line, or $47,700 for a family of four.
Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in present-day Iraq, is often considered the cradle of civilization. It was here that civilization, characterized by cities, monumental architecture, and writing, began to develop about 7,000 years ago.
The Sumerians were the first Mesopotamian civilization. They lived in independent walled city-states. Uruk, the first and one of the largest cities in Mesopotamia, had a six miles long wall with defense towers located at 30-35 foot intervals.he Sumerians built the first cities, established the first monarchies and bureaucracies. The city was ruled by the gods through the priest king who exercised divine authority. Under the king were priests who surveyed land, assigned fields, ran the complex irrigation system, and distributed the harvest.