poverty measurement

[flaja]

What is the better indicator of poverty for a given geographic region?

The federal poverty rate, i.e., the % of people living below the federal poverty line;

The median household income;

The median family income;

Per capita income.

[Marley]

Body fat ratio?

Seriously, isn't a fundamental aspect of "poverty" the inability to properly feed ones self?

Can a fat person be "poor?"

[Drocket]

Seriously, isn't a fundamental aspect of "poverty" the inability to properly feed ones self?

Can a fat person be "poor?"

Yes. It's quite possible to be fat and malnourished. It, in fact, happens quite often in the US because the cheap foods are very often very high in fat and calories while at the same time providing very little in the way of vitamins and minerals necessary to be healthy.

[flaja]

The federal poverty level income amount is based on the amount of money needed to buy food for a minimum calorie diet based on food prices from the 1960s. At that time food was one of the major household expenditures in America. But the cost of food on a per calorie basis is much lower now than it was during the 1960s because of the advent of cheap, high-calorie foods such as high fructose corn syrup and palm kernel oil. These foods are rich in calories, but they essentially no nutritional value.