The poor in the United States have a higher standard of living than many of the nonpoor in other wealthy industrialized countries, measured by access to conveniences, labor-saving devices and even luxury goods.

The Census Bureau reports that 38.1 million Americans - 14.5 percent of the population - lived in poverty in 1994. The Census Bureau also has studied the extraordinary access the poor and those on welfare had to major consumer durable goods in 1992. It found that, for example:

• Color television, once available only to the rich, is today accessible to 92.2 percent of those on welfare.

• The poor have access to refrigerators and stoves comparable to that of the nonpoor, and their access to telephones, air conditioners, washing machines and clothes dryers is high.

To put these numbers in perspective, according to the marketing research firm Euromonitor:

• Ownership of dishwashers was lower among the entire population in the Netherlands, Italy and the United Kingdom than among Americans living in poverty.

• The overall population of every European country had less access to microwave ovens than did the U.S. poor.

Thus many low-income Americans are better off than their income alone would suggest. Consumption by households in the lowest 20 percent of the income distribution averaged $13,957 in 1993, while their income averaged only $6,395. That is possible because in-kind benefits such as food stamps and subsidized housing are excluded when income is calculated.

Also, a large percentage of those with low money incomes are the elderly, who may have low expenses and substantial assets.

Source: Bruce Bartlett, "How Poor Are the Poor?" NCPA Brief Analysis No. 185, October 25, 1995, National Center for Policy Analysis, 12770 Coit Rd., Suite 800, Dallas, TX 75251, (214) 386-6272.