absolute poverty

Meaning: Absolute poverty is a condition in which a person cannot meet basic survival needs such as food, clean water, shelter, and clothing. It is measured against a fixed threshold, often an international dollar-per-day income line, that does not shift with how well off other people in the society are. Because the line is fixed, it allows comparison across countries and across time. Economic growth that lifts the incomes of the poorest above the line reduces it.

On the MCAT: Passages may give income or living-condition data for countries or groups and ask you to decide whether the data describe absolute or relative poverty. Questions also link absolute poverty to global inequality, differences between high-income and low-income countries, and poorer health outcomes such as higher infant mortality and lower life expectancy. It is more common in low-income countries, but it also occurs in wealthy ones.

Common confusion: Students treat absolute poverty as the same as being in the lowest social class or as income inequality. Relative poverty is defined by falling well below the typical standard of living in a given society, so it can persist even when absolute poverty has been eliminated. The fixed, society-independent threshold settles which term applies.