Both the definition of poverty and the poverty thresholds have been criticized on grounds that they do not accurately reflect families true financial resources, nor the amount of money families actually need to be economically self-sufficient. 20 Estimates of minimum income levels required for families to achieve basic economic self-sufficiency range around twice the federal poverty thresholds. 21 Based on the official poverty definitions, in 2007 (the latest year for which data are available), million people () lived in households with incomes below the poverty thresholds in the . Of these, million were children under age 18 years, and.
