Each year the World Bank issues a report that provides the per capita incomes of about 150 nations. Out of all these countries, only 26 percent have per capita incomes higher than the poverty threshold income level defined by the U.S. government. This official poverty threshold income level for the United States is twice as high as the world’s average per capita income level. It is approximately equal to the average income of a resident in Slovenia or Portugal.

Does the fact that the U.S. government raises its official poverty threshold income each year imply that it defines poverty in a relative or an absolute sense?