I’ve noted in the past that there are two kinds of poverty: absolute poverty and relative poverty.

Absolute poverty is a daily struggle for survival. - Michael Smith

I think of the slums of New Delhi or the outskirts of Bangkok, where families live in leaky one-room shacks beneath a single light bulb and survive on little more than a bowl of rice each day. 

• The challenge is not comfort, convenience, or opportunity.
• The challenge is simply staying alive.

Relative poverty is something different.

It is the standard primarily used in the United States, where poverty is measured as a percentage of median income.

• Under that definition, people who own televisions, automobiles, mobile phones, air conditioning, and gaming systems can still be classified as poor. 
• Efforts to alleviate relative poverty are not really about assuring survival; they are attempts to guarantee a particular standard of living...