My people in the province have lands, can sustain themselves fairly well, yet still categorized as poor by the indices proposed by organizations. They don't have much money in the bank, but their lands are worth millions and refuse to sell that because that's what they only know. They can adapt to any changes in the economy, and that's the 'poor' people I aspire to be.
When you increase in the societal ladder in terms of finances, you also increase your expenses which makes it harder for you to fill your 'needs'. These simple people from above do what they do best and are living happy lives because they have food to eat and land to farm on. They don't ask for anything else except good harvest. I guess, if you're self-sustainable, you don't need that much money and can still become 'poor' to the eyes of other people.
Every year the poverty rate increases, due to the lack of employment opportunities and daily costs, namely clothing and food, increasing. In Indonesia itself, if one month's income is only less than $6.85 per day, it is considered poor because it does not meet daily needs. Another cause is that people are pampered with credit from money to family needs such as cars and so on, even though this also causes poverty.