Half of all adults in the world have less than $2,300 in wealth (2016)

Re:Half of all adults in the world have less than $2,300 in ... by cascom on Thursday June 07, 2018 @02:28PM (#17258703)

I think people are using different definitions of poor here. The article references NET WORTH not INCOME e.g. a doctor earning $200k a year but with $200k of medical debt is "poor."

over 50% of households make >$50k a year in the U.S. but many of them have very little net worth...some of them are unlucky, but many of them make decisions that keep them with very little money in their pocket...

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Half of all adults in the world have less than $2,300 in ... by Symmetry on Thursday June 07, 2018 @02:48PM (#17258910)

Honestly we should be looking at consumption rather than income. Of the ten poorest communities in the US by income half are college towns. Most college students have low incomes but I don't think it's right to consider them poor either given that this is generally a temporary state and they're frequently living better than their age-mates who aren't are working full time instead of attending college and thus have higher incomes.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Half of all adults in the world have less than $2,300 in ... by tasuki on Thursday June 07, 2018 @04:20PM (#17259867)

What about people who earn lots but choose not to consume much? Are they poor?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Half of all adults in the world have less than $2,300 in ... by Symmetry on Thursday June 07, 2018 @04:27PM (#17259933)

They're not poor but I think there are few enough people voluntarily consuming less than $12,140 a year when they could live better that I'm comfortable ignoring them in the relevant statistics.

[ Parent | on HN ]