What does it mean to be hungry and poor? With such divergence across countries as to what the "poverty line" means, we set out to visualize what poverty looks like by highlighting something that everyone can understand -- food.
Starting from the oft-quoted $1 per person, per day U.N. figure, we attempted to calculate our own national figures, creating a visual portrayal of items found in a given country that could be bought by a person living at the poverty line. For developed countries, where there is relatively updated household consumption data, we focused on the average daily amount that a person at the poverty line would spend on food. For developing countries, we used the average amount that a person at the poverty line earns and spends each day. From Australia to Madagascar, from France to Nepal, here's what we found.
Above, 7.52 Australian dollars, or 8.02 U.S. dollars (as of Feb. 23), of avocados.
7.52 Australian dollars of oranges.
52.87 Thai baht of instant noodles.
