By Wilbert Masamba.
DEFINITION OF POVERTY
State of being poor, as measured in absolute or relative terms. (Livesey 2014)
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. (World vision 2022).
Poverty is when your resources are well below your minimum needs. (Joseph Rowntree Foundation 2022)
There are two main categories of poverty: Absolute and relative.
ABSOLUTE POVERTY.
This definition is based on identifying the minimum conditions needed to maintain human life. According to Seebohm and Joseph Rowntree (1901) there is primary poverty- were individuals or families lack the means to provide the basic necessities of life, such as food,clothing and shelter.
Then there is Secondary poverty-here people will have sufficient means to sustain life, however they will be failing to do so because they spend at least part of their income on things that are not essential.
Gordon et al (2003) defined poverty in terms of seven basic need indicators which are:
- health
- shelter
- education
- clen water
- food
- sanitation
- information.
Basic needs refer to minimum requirements to sustain human life,e.g clean water and food.
According to Gordon et al (2003), "if the household or individual does not have access to a particular basic need, they are defined as " deprived". Then those who are deprived of two or more of the seven basic needs indicators are defined as being in absolute poverty" About 35% of children in the Middle east and North Africa live in absolute poverty. (Gordon et al 2003)
STRENGTHS
-Measuring poverty in absolute terms means the poverty can be standardised as people have similar biological needs no matter where they live.
Secondly once the minimum human needs are objectively standardised, their definition and measurement does not change. The same definition of poverty is used wherever and whenever it is measured. (Farkingham (2000).
Thirdly, Absolute definitions can be applied consistently across all societies to compare levels of poverty on a global scale, regardless of different levels of social and technological development.
The United Nations Human Poverty Index measures absolute poverty across three dimensions:
- healthy life expectancy.
- access to education.
- living standards.
Using a range of indicators for these criteria, countries can be ranked in terms of their comparative rates of poverty. According to World Bank (2023), the countries with the highest poverty rates in the world are: - South Sudan - 82.30%
- Equatorial Guinea - 76.80%
- Madagascar - 70.70%
- Guinea-Bissau - 69.30%
- Eritrea - 69.00%.
LIMITATIONS
Absolute definitions are less useful for measuring levels of poverty across societies. For example, historical and cross-cultural differences in living standards make it difficult to come up with a minimum standard need's tests in any meaningful way. An individual experience of poverty in Zimbabwe is very different from the experience of poverty in England. Compared to Zimbabwe," minimum subsistence level tests in modern England find very little poverty.
This suggests that concepts of poverty reflect a society's beliefs about what is an acceptable standard of living. As societies change, so are changes in what is considered as poor and the concepts of poverty in societies.
Thus, Falkingham questions the concept of needs. Can they be defined biologically, having just enough to eat for example, or we need to consider needs in relation to the quality of life in various societies.
REF
Livesey C.2014.Cambridge International AS and A Level Sociology Coursebook.
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