Who wants to live their lives in the manner depicted?
I doubt anyone wishes!
What would you say about yourself? rich or poor? Let's find out if you are wealthy or not.
Poverty
Poverty is a condition in which a person does not have enough money or other resources to meet their basic necessities.
In other terms, poverty is the inability to meet one's basic necessities due to a lack of resources. The fundamental necessities include things like food, shelter, non-food, education, health, and amusement. The concept of poverty has several facets, including social, economic, and political components.
When an individual or community lacks the means of subsistence, they are said to be in a state or situation of poverty.
When a person is in poverty, their level of employment-based income is too low to cover even their most basic necessities.
The World Bank defines poverty as a severe lack of well-being that has several dimensions.
Low salaries and the inability to obtain the fundamental goods and services required for humane survival are examples of this. Low levels of health and education, poor access to sanitary facilities, insufficient physical security, lack of voice, and a lack of resources and opportunities to improve one's situation are all included in the definition of poverty.
How do you measure poverty?
The process of calculating a population's level of poverty is known as poverty measuring. People who are in poverty do not have enough money to cover their fundamental requirements. The major goals of measuring poverty are to assess and compare the levels of poverty in various nations, monitor efforts to eradicate it and keep an eye on how it affects human development.
The best method is to measure the income, of a person. When we divide national income by the population, we get the per capita income of that country.
Per Capita Income PCI = National Income (NI ) /Population
The poverty threshold line depends upon the nature of countries. According to world bank data $3.20 per day(in Purchasing power parity) for lower-middle-income countries per day in 2022 and $5.50 per day(in Purchasing power parity) for upper-middle-income countries.
You can use the consumption or expenditure approach also. You can use a multi-dimensional approach that includes health education and living standard.
What are the objectives for measuring poverty?
The objectives for measuring poverty include:
To understand how much income people need to live with dignity;
To assess whether or not policies are effective in reducing inequality;
To determine if there are any gaps between what people need and what they get;
Causes of poverty
- Rapid population growth
- Unemployment and underemployment
- The low productivity in the agriculture sector
- Inequality
- Low rural development
- The slow pace of industrial development
- Inflation
- Regional disparities
- Underutilization of local resources
- Ineffective plan implementation
Variety of Poverty
Absolute Poverty:
A state in which household income is below what is required to maintain minimal standards of living (food, shelter, housing). It is possible to compare nations over time. To understand the meaning of poverty, it is necessary to understand the concept of threshold( poverty line). The poverty line is the minimum income level required to fulfill the basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. If the income of a person is below the poverty line, it is known as absolute poverty. It can be measured in terms of calorie intake per day. According to World Bank, the international poverty line was $ 1.90 income per day in 2015.
Relative Poverty
Relative poverty is defined from a social standpoint as a person's standard of living to the economic standards of the local population. Consequently, it is a gauge of income disparity.
The fraction of the population with income below a predetermined percentage of the median income is typically used to calculate relative poverty. In another word, It is the situation in which a person has enough income to sustain life, but the income and living standard are lower compared to the rest of the community.
Difference between Absolute and Relative Poverty
Characteristics of Poor
- Low-income level of the poor living in rural and urban areas is very low.
- The occupation of the poor is basically agriculture in rural areas and labor in urban areas.
- The household composition of children was found to be greater than nonpoor.
- The education of poor family basically found to be illiterate due to poverty( they can not afford it) or ignorance.
- Almost all income spend on expenditure, and there will be no saving for capital formation.
- The status of the poor in the society is very low. Political power is also low.
- The housing condition is bad, basically live in a small mud hut with limited space.
- Poor people basically live in slum areas where there are no employment opportunities, lack of transportation, lack hospitals, lack of schools, and college.
Measures to control poverty
- Increasing the daily minimum wage.
- increasing social security benefits;
- increasing public spending on health and education;
- improving employment conditions through regulation and improvement of labor law;
- encouraging investment by state-owned enterprises (SOEs);
- implementing programs to improve the skill level of people from low-income families so they can find employment.
- Control overpopulation
- Reducing the unequal distribution of income
- Food subsidy for low-income people
Final words to developing countries
Political unrest and corruption, a lack of industry, and a reliance on agriculture are all factors contributing to poverty in developing countries. Despite having abundant natural resources, emerging nations have not taken advantage of them or made money from them by exporting them to other nations.
No one ever becomes wealthy without trading, so kindly urge your people to do so. assistance for technology use. Invest in the educational system (the USA improved its economy by investing in the STEAM education system which emphasizes science, technology, engineering, arts, and management).