Rhode Island ranks among the top 10 states with the highest population of people 65 and older considered "economically vulnerable," according to a report released this week by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit in Washington, D.C.
"Many of America's 41 million seniors are just one bad economic shock away from significant material hardship,'' according to the EPI report.
In Rhode Island, 51.8 percent of people 65 and older are economically vulnerable, the 8th highest in the country and the highest in New England. Massachusetts' share is 48.4 percent and Connecticut's is 46.4 percent.
States with large minority populations tend to have the highest levels of elderly vulnerability, the report says.
The report measures economic vulnerability by the U.S. Census Bureau's Supplemental Poverty Measure, which is based on a family's expenses and their available resources, including government assistance programs.