and the fifth would be the cherry on the top... what percentage of people out there would you guess get to have that cherry?

Well the theory is, that no one can get to the top with out having the previous tier.
So people that GENUINELY get to the top, i would say only a select few!
Im talking single digit percentages here.

ya, i can't argue against that... millions of people out there will fulfill all of the first 4 tiers, but the number drops significantly for those that reach the top... people become too comfortable having fulfilled all their needs and too cozy being loved and having a good sense of self-worth that they just kind of stop trying to move up the tiers any further...

so another question-- how important is the third tier? i mean, it's pretty hard to see how a person could fulfill their potential without the fourth... but how necessary do you find the third to getting to the top? how many people do you think could fulfill their potential without a sense of love and belonging? do you think that people could even fulfill the 4th tier without the 3rd?

I dont think that the third is an obstacle from getting to the top tier as such i think what Maslow was getting at was the importance of each need.
Obviously without food we can't progress to the second for security and so on and so fourth.
I do understand though, that as long as you have to two bottom tiers, you will atleast live a life maybe not a fulfilling one, but a life nonetheless

So effectively, the bottom two tiers are concerned with poverty of means, which affect us physically, as does the third in a different context. The top two are concerned with how we see ourselves (and others see us) as opposed to survival and therefore become a matter of intellectual wherewithal and status. The top two are a luxury compared to the bottom two. The definition of 'poverty' changes as one moves up the tiers. A person's economic status can change so that financial poverty is no longer an issue but 'poverty' in terms of physical love, self-esteem, self-actualization through intellect could still have a detrimental affect. You can have the top tiers without the bottom. How else explain footballers? (Sorry, I'm being an idiot).

you don't think that being denied love and acceptance would make it more of a struggle to developing our self-esteem? well, that's fair enough... i think it would make it more difficult to by-pass that tier, but it is entirely possible for some...

okay though, so how would you define the life of a person who has reached all the tiers and fulfilled their full potential? obviously, the definition would very from person to person as we don't all have the same potential, but take yourself-- how would you know that you personally had succeeded in fulfilling your life all the way to the top tier?

and also, we could live if we didn't meet any of the tiers... we can survive in constant danger, and constantly struggling to meet our basic physical needs... it would suck, but we don't really need stability of the bottom two tiers to tough it out day to day...

and van gogh was the picture of mental health...