It is usually 60% from the median income. Below is poor.

It depends on how each state defines the poverty line - for instance, most use median and mean salaries, yet ignore, from a capabilities perspective, human development indices.

Dear S.J.,

in poverty research, social politics and related scientific disciplines are several definitions of poverty used. There doesn't exist a fixed definition of poverty. So, if poverty is defined, you have to ask for the normative commitment. In this way, the measurement of poverty always is an ethical matter.

In the European discussion, there are the following thresholds in order to define poverty (see: http://www.euro.centre.org/data/1295444473_73292.pdf) (see page 5)

"Thresholds set at 40%, 50% and 60% of the national median income are the ones most commonly used." (page 5f.)

• 60% threshold: commonly used as the main EU indicator of poverty, sometims called ‘near poverty’. (The attached report used this definition of poverty; page 1f)
• 50% threshold: most used by the OECD and Luxembourg Income Study.
• 40% threshold is often used in order to measure ‘severe poverty"
• 70% threshold: is sometimes used in order to illustrate the income distribution.

If you are interested in poverty data, have a try with LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg. There are datasets about poverty, inequality and gender. You can download key figures under (see also attachment): http://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/key-figures/download-key-figures/

There are three pathways to the Data: http://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/

See also the link: http://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/access-eligibility/

There you can see, that almost all datasets are free.

You can find many datasets informations under:

http://www.lisdatacenter.org/our-data/

Also have a try with: United Nations Statistics Division under: http://data.un.org/

There are about 34 databases. See the list under: http://data.un.org/Explorer.aspx

Or use the link: http://data.un.org/Search.aspx?q=poverty (for searching poverty data).

Also have a try with: Eurostat (for European data: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

for your special interest and insight see: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/income-and-living-conditions/statistics-illustrated

Finally try the: OECD website: http://stats.oecd.org

see the link income distribution and poverty: http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=IDD

I hope, there are many hints for you. If you need more information, send me a mail please.

Good luck with your research project. Kind regards, Detlef

http://stats.oecd.org

Good luck and kind regards

Detlef

http://www.euro.centre.org/data/1295444473_73292.pdf

http://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/key-figures/download-key-figures/

http://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/

http://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/access-eligibility/

http://www.lisdatacenter.org/our-data/

http://data.un.org/

http://data.un.org/Explorer.aspx

http://data.un.org/Search.aspx?q=poverty

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/income-and-living-conditions/statistics-illustrated

Dear Detlef,

Thank you very much for the elaborate answer.  Sure, i will and have to contact you on related issues, as i'm a beginner in poverty analysis.

Thanks a lot.

Just one addition to a very complete answer by Detlef: for analytical purposes one can use a variety of poverty lines as each one selects a different part of a population to be defined as poor. In my view poverty is always relative so poverty line should be in a longer run adjusted to reflect movement in average, prevailing levels of income - in a given community - state or province. However, there are also poverty lines defined by the value of a selected basket of good and services which is recognized as a minimum people should be able to buy to live out of poverty. The contents of this basket should also be revised from time to time to reflect changes in both consumption patterns and aspirations of the society.

As regards poverty line which would be used for the policy purposes - like defining group of people entitled to income support or other benefits - it makes no sense to use poverty line which would define majority of the society as poor. It will be only useful to defined as poor and entitled to receive support from the others population which can be effectively supported within reasonable time horizon. That's why in many countries we have often at least two "official" poverty lines, where the second, lower one defines "extreme poverty"

Hi Krzysztof,

In India, what i'm concerned with, the poverty lines are obtained through consumption expenditure (derived based on calorie norms) +nonfood expenses, as we have no data on income.  And the common measure used here is the Head Count Index.  I'm really not sure how this HCR is used in economic policy.  For example, if the HCR is say 30%, what can one do with this number?  Even, by having the figure on extreme poverty, what action the government will take?

Dear S.J.,

you've got several questions. Related to you question of "data conversion", do you know the following publications?

There are defined monetary values for consumption goods. (see annex 1 - 3, press release; there's also an income distribution, perhaps, you can get the dataset from annex 1; I assume, you should be able to calculate the atkinson index. Perhaps you can convert the survey data with an Excel import - export, or you perhaps have to set aside a few data, if it's not comparable exactly.With the help of the key indicators, you should be able to estimate the potential bias.)

Government of India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, National Sample Survey Office (2013): Key indicators of household consumer expenditure in India, 2011-12. Press release. See: http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/press-release-68th-HCE.pdf

Government of India, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, National Sample Survey Office (2013): Key indicators of household consumer expenditure in India, 2011-12. (the original report) See: http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/key%20indicators%20of%20household%20consumer%20expenditure%202011-12.pdf

Related to your question of "using HCR in economic policy", I would like to explain the connection in the following way: Policy has got the aim and the duty to combat and prevent poverty, because poverty isn't accordable with the human right of dignity or with the human right of free development of the individual. So, the state of poverty injured the universal accepted human rights. National surveys have got the task, to measure the extent of poverty and to publish the results in official reports in order to clarify the socio-political or economic-political need for action, respectively against policy makers. In this way, in my opinion, it's a question of "How is it possible, to build up a lobby for the poor human beings of a society?", because you need a minimum of solidarity towards the members of society, who are poor and excluded. (But this in turn depends on the individuals' disposition to get involved with political questions; and I dare to say, that this disposition is low by trend, because people, living in extreme poverty, have to deal with existential problems.)

Good luck with your research project! Kind regards, Detlef

http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/press-release-68th-HCE.pdf

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/key%20indicators%20of%20household%20consumer%20expenditure%202011-12.pdf