The line is of course somewhat arbitrary, but it's meant to be at a level where people can barely feed themselves. While this varies from country to country, it

The line is of course somewhat arbitrary, but it's meant to be at a level where people can barely feed themselves. While this varies from country to country, it's striking that it doesn't vary that much. It's also easier to market one (if arbitrary) poverty line than individual ones for each country. You might find this article [1] interesting. It mentions your point as well: "But even in quite poor countries, a different concept of poverty also seems to creep in, the authors argue. It begins to matter whether a person is poor relative to his countrymen; whether he can appear in public without shame, as Adam Smith put it." [1] http://www.economist.com/node/11409401 http://www.economist.com/node/11409401