>http://www-cpr.maxwell.syr.edu/faculty/smeeding/papers/irpconf.pdf
Which says, among other things, that the welfare system makes a big difference, and that after taxes and transfers, most non-English speaking rich countries have lower poverty rates than the U.S. using the U.S. poverty line.
Doug
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Table 1. Absolute Poverty Rates for OECD Nations in 1994 and 1995 Using the United States Poverty Line
per capita GDP, 1995
poverty --------------------
year rate level US=100 Australia 1994 17.6% $21,459 77 United Kingdom 1995 15.7 18,743 67 United States 1994 13.6 27,895 100 France 1994 9.9 20,192 72 Canada 1994 7.4 22,951 82 Germany 1994 7.3 21,357 77 Netherlands 1994 7.1 21,222 76 Sweden 1995 6.3 19,949 72 Finland 1995 4.8 18,861 68 Norway 1995 4.3 23,316 84 Luxembourg 1994 0.3 36,570 131
Overall Average 8.6 22,956 82.4