&gt; People are poor if they earn less than the average (not median) household. From the article &quot;The report looked at the gap between the income of the poorest Japanese families with children and the average household income.&quot;<p>And I thought the US move to define the poverty line as the 40th percentile of income (or something lower; I don&#x27;t remember this too well) was absurd. The average household income is, by necessity, well above the 50th percentile everywhere. There is no one seriously advocating that over 50% of every country&#x27;s population is living in poverty.