Measured by cash income, the rate of poverty among the age 65 and older population has fallen dramatically, especially since 1974--from 25 percent in 1968 to 14.1 percent in 1983. However, this decline is the result more of an increase in poverty rates for the nonelderly in recent years than of major progress in reducing poverty for those over 65. The decline is likely to continue. For elderly persons at all levels of income, Social Security benefits have contributed to growth in incomes. Each group of persons turning 65 in one year tends to be better off than the previous year's group. But such gains do not help those who are already elderly. The number of poor elderly has been dropping since 1980 but at a slower pace than suggested by the decline in the poverty rate. The number of poor elderly in 1983 was higher than the number in 1973. More than three-fourths of the elderly poor are women and minorities; the proportion of elderly in these groups has been growing. In 1983 women constituted 71.1 percent of the elderly poor, although they accounted for 59.1 percent of the total elderly; 56 percent of all elderly women are poor. Women over 65 living as unrelated individuals on the average get only about one-third as much from wages and salaries as do their male counterparts. Their risks of being poor change dramatically with their living arrangements. Poverty rates for elderly minorities continue to be much higher than those for whites. Other characteristics of the elderly poor are described, and policy implications are discussed. Data are presented on 11 tables and figures. (BJV)