31. What is poverty?
Answers
Answer:
Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs can't be met.
Explanation:
Hope it helps
Good morning
Have a great day ahead
Stay safe and sound
Please follow
Answer:
When you think about poverty, what comes to mind? It’s probably an image of a person who doesn’t have enough (good) food to eat, lives in a shabby home—or no home at all. And they probably can’t afford to buy the goods and services you normally take for granted. You’re not wrong, but the complexity of poverty may surprise you.
Poverty is not just about money, but also includes issues of access to services such as health care and education, marginalization and exclusion. Learn about these complexities and how World Vision has been partnering with donors to reduce poverty in the world’s most vulnerable places.
1. What is the definition of poverty?
Essentially, poverty refers to lacking enough resources to provide the necessities of life—food, clean water, shelter and clothing. But in today’s world, that can be extended to include access to health care, education and even transportation. In government circles, poverty is often further defined as “absolute poverty” and “relative poverty” (more on that below).
Every country has its own measure for poverty. However, a widely recognized authority on the topic of “extreme poverty” is the World Bank. The Bank keeps a metric called the International Poverty Line and, as of 2015, set the definition of extreme poverty as those who live on less than US$1.90 per day. (Those living on between $1.90-$3.10 per day are classified as the “moderate poor.”) This number is based on the monetary value of a person’s consumption rather than income alone.
2. What is the difference between absolute poverty and relative poverty?
Absolute poverty refers to those whose incomes fall below a line set by a given country. Below this line people are unable to meet their basic needs for food, water and shelter. They also have no access to social services such as health care, education and utilities.
Relative poverty refers to people whose total incomes are less than a certain percentage—typically 50%--of the country’s median income. Because the median income can vary as a result of economic growth, the line for relative poverty can change. When poverty is defined to include access to services and security critical to well-being—and not just income and consumption—the global poverty rate increases by 50%.
Numerous young children hold up silver bowls to receive porridge at a child-friendly space in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Young children, including a family of six, in the Democratic Republic of Congo await a meal of porridge. Photo: Jon Warren
3. Is poverty only about money?
No. Common perceptions of poverty consider income and consumption alone. However, there are significant approaches that say other factors must be included. This is because money doesn’t tell the whole story. (Typically, when the poor describe their poverty they do so in ways that go beyond simply not having enough money.) Examples of such approaches include the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and the Human Development Index (HDI).
The MPI is supported by the United Nations Development Programme. It measures poverty across three dimensions—health, education and standard of living. It then further breaks these down into 10 indicators:
Nutrition
Child mortality
Years of schooling
School attendance
Cooking fuel
Sanitation
Drinking water
Electricity
Housing
Assets
For more information on the MPI, see the UN’s 2018 Multidimensional Poverty Index. World Vision’s range of programs actively address a number of these indicators.
4. Which places around the world are most affected by poverty?
According to the World Bank, the global breakdown for the number of people living in “extreme poverty” is:
413.3 million in sub-Saharan Africa
216.4 million in South Asia
47.2 million in East Asia and Pacific
25.9 million in Latin America and the Caribbean
18.6 million in the Middle East and North Africa
7.1 million in Europe and Central Asia
7.3 million in the rest of the world
5. Which are the poorest countries in the world?
As of 2015, the three countries with the greatest number of people living in extreme poverty are:
India (175 million)
Nigeria (86 million)
Democratic Republic of Congo (55 million)
In India, a woman in a green and blue sari holds her young child who smiles at the camera
Survivors of Cyclone Fani, a mother and her young daughter are outside a new, makeshift hut close to their old home in India. Photo: Jim Kasom
6. How many children around the world live in poverty?
Nearly 356 million children around the world live in “extreme poverty” (less than US$1.90 per day). It is estimated that 1 billion children live in multidimensional poverty, which means that they lack basic necessities such as clean water or nutrition.