What's the meaning of "poorest fifth"? Why not use "five" instead of "fifth"? Students with hukou in the **poorest fifth** of counties were seven times less likely than their urban counterparts to ge

Find English Teachers

GotoBrazil

What's the meaning of "poorest fifth"? Why not use "five" instead of "fifth"? Students with hukou in the **poorest fifth** of counties were seven times less likely than their urban counterparts to get a university place.

May 30, 2021 2:07 AM

Answers · 4

It means "one fifth" (20%). It's like saying "the lower half." After an adjective, we don't say "one half"; we just say "the blue half," "the smaller half," etc. The same is true for other percentages. "The lower third of the painting is damaged" = one third of the painting is damaged, and it's the part of the painting at the bottom. If you drew a scale with all the counties ranked in order according to their wealth, the one-fifth of the scale with all the poorest counties would be the "poorest fifth" of counties.

May 30, 2021