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Poverty gap
Definition
The intensity of poverty (or poverty gap) is an indicator used to assess the extent to which the standard of living of the poor population is under the poverty line. INSEE measures this indicator as the relative difference between the median standard of living of the poor population and the poverty threshold.
It is calculated formally as follows:(poverty threshold - median standard of living of the poor population) / poverty threshold.
The higher the indicator, the greater the poverty gap is said to be, in that the standard of living of the poorest is a very long way below the poverty threshold.
