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The subjective poverty line methodology derives a poverty fine from responses to a question asking people how much money they need in order to make ends meet. In this paper, we explore the relevance and implications of this approach using sample survey data for Australia and Sweden derived specifically for this purpose. We apply identical techniques to the two sets of data and compare and contrast the resulting poverty lines, before exploring their sensitivity to changes in the methods used to derive them. Finally, analysis focuses on a comparison of the characteristics of those families in each country whose incomes are below the subjective poverty line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]