Yes, exactly. The numbers I would like to see measured would be:<p>- percent of people who can afford 2,500 calories of food and 60 grams of animal protein a day (where afford has some standard definition, such as can pay for the consumption using less than half of their income).<p>- percent of people who have access to clean water<p>- percent of people with indoor plumbing<p>- percent of people with access to electricity in the home.<p>- percent of people who can access and afford 500MB of internet data a month<p>It is impossible to know what &quot;$2 a day&quot; actually means. The number gets adjusted for purchasing power, but there is an infinite amount of room in that calculation for governments to fudge the data. Many people in the third world can afford a cell phone, but not afford enough protein in their diet, does that mean they are richer or poorer than someone one hundred years ago  without a cell phone but who can afford meat? There is no objective way to answer that question. Since I do not know all the subjective decisions made in doing the purchasing power adjustment, the ultimate number tells me nothing.