Note that the second column shows that all of these industrialized nations have similar poverty rates before any government action is taken. For example, the United States has exactly the same rate of poverty as Canada and Germany.
However, as the third column shows, the poverty rates drop dramatically in most nations as a result of government assistance. The rates for Canada and Germany, for example, drop to 10 percent and 7 percent respectively.
The last column measures what percentage of those initially poor were lifted out of poverty because of government assistance. On this last measure, the United States falls far short when compared to other industrialized nations.
