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The decade of the sixties witnessed a sizeable reduction in the number of persons living in poverty. Since 1959, the first year for which data on poverty are available, there has been an average annual decline of 4.9 percent in the number of poor persons. However, between 1969 and 1970, the number of poor persons increased by about 1.2 million, or 5.1 percent. This is the first time that there has been a significant increase in the poverty population. In 1970, about 25.5 million persons, or 13 percent of the population, were below the poverty level, according to the results of the Current Population Survey conducted in March 1971 by the Bureau of the Census. The rates of increase for both whites and Negroes below the poverty level were roughly the same. In 1970, however, the poverty rate for Negroes was more than three times that for whites.