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What I find the more useful comparison, is to compare the poor of a country, to the median income of other countries. That puts the US bottom decile household a
by 317070 5y ago
What I find the more useful comparison, is to compare the poor of a country, to the median income of other countries. That puts the US bottom decile household at $10800 slightly below the median Malaysian, Russian, Ukrainian or Mexican household.
The bottom percent household income is at $1400 in the US, which puts them slightly below the median in Zambia, Burkina Faso and Benin.
Note, these other countries also have poor! And this is a comparison in dollars, not in standard of living. But it gives a broad idea of the level of poverty some people are dealing with.
- dougmwne 5y agoI think that's probably quite misleading to just look at nominal value. Purchasing power parity might be a better metric, but I still don't think that captures the difference in people's lives in different countries. Being poor in America is means perhaps having some comforts that are rare even for middle class people in other countries. For example, the home square footage, number of appliances, size of wardrobe, number of cars, etc. But on the other hand, middle class people in a less materially rich country may have government safety nets, accessable health care, higher education, in-demand skills, ability to save and access credit, manageable work hours, and enjoy the social respect that comes with professional careers.