Other things to consider than just the headlines:
According to a UN declaration that resulted from the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, absolute poverty is "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services."
David Gordon's paper, "Indicators of Poverty & Hunger", for the United Nations, further defines absolute poverty as the absence of any two of the following eight basic needs:
- Food: Body Mass Index must be above 16.
- Safe drinking water: Water must not come from solely rivers and ponds, and must be available nearby (less than 15 minutes' walk each way).
- Sanitation facilities: Toilets or latrines must be accessible in or near the home.
- Health: Treatment must be received for serious illnesses and pregnancy.
- Shelter: Homes must have fewer than four people living in each room. Floors must not be made of dirt, mud, or clay.
- Education: Everyone must attend school or otherwise learn to read.
- Information: Everyone must have access to newspapers, radios, televisions, computers, or telephones at home.
- Access to services: This item is undefined by Gordon, but normally is used to indicate the complete panoply of education, health, legal, social, and financial (credit) services.
[Thus, very few U.S. citizens are in “absolute poverty”]
National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys. Definitions of the poverty line may vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations [
e.g. U.S.] generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations. Thus, the numbers are not comparable among countries.
In 2009, in the United States of America, the poverty threshold for a single person under 65 was US $11,161; the threshold for a family group of four, including two children, was US $21,756 (wiki). In 2010 the government
raised the poverty threshold for a family of four to US $22,314 or less (Washington Times). Money income does not include noncash benefits such as public housing, Medicaid, employer-provided health insurance and food stamps. Also, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit isn’t counted towards income (npc.umich.edu/poverty/). Geography is similarly not considered. Mississippi has one of the nation's highest “poverty” rates, meaning that a greater number of Mississippi residents fall below the poverty threshold. But it is a statement of fact that a family earning US $22,000 in Mississippi is
economically better off than a family earning US $22,000 in a metropolitan center like New York City or San Francisco. You can still catch dinner - year round - with a cane pole and a cricket in rural Mississippi.