International Poverty Line
Categories: Econ, Ethics/Morals
Each country sets its own "poverty line." You probably remember a time when some head of some government moved the poverty line down, just so they could say they decreased poverty while in office. But the international poverty line is different.
The international poverty line is the international threshold for poverty—anything below that amount of money is considered living in poverty. The international poverty line is calculated using the poverty line for each country, and is expressed in U.S. dollars.
If you hear about the international poverty line, do a double-take. The international poverty line can be misleading in many ways. For one, the purchasing power in different countries is different—so just because the international poverty line is, say, $1 per day, it doesn’t mean that’s equivalent to $1 in America.
Another reason the international poverty line can be misleading: it implies that adding a small amount of income will make a big difference in someone’s life...but living right below the poverty line is not much different than living right above it.