Poverty

• Absolute Poverty


  Also known as extreme poverty or abject poverty. Involves the scarcity of basic food, clean water, health, shelter, education and information. Those who belong to absolute poverty tend to struggle to live and experience a lot of child deaths from preventable diseases like malaria, cholera and water-contamination related diseases. Absolute poverty is usually uncommon in developed countries.
• Robert McNamara, the former president of the World Bank: 'It is a condition so limited by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality, and low life expectancy as to be beneath any reasonable definition of human decency.'
• Relative Poverty


  Defined from the social perspective that is living standard compared to the economic standards of population living in surroundings. Hence, it is a measure of income inequality. For example, a family can be considered poor if it cannot afford vacations, or cannot buy presents for children at Christmas, or cannot send them to universities.
• Situational Poverty


  A temporary type of poverty based on occurrence of an adverse event like environmental disaster, job loss and severe health problem. People can help themselves even with a small assistance, as poverty comes because of unfortunate event.
• Generational Poverty


  Handed over to individual and families from one generation to the one. This is more complicated as there is no escape because the people are trapped in its cause and unable to access the tools required to get out of it.
• Rural Poverty


  Occurs in rural areas with population below 50,000. It is the area where there are less job opportunities, less access to services, less support for disabilities and quality education opportunities. People are tending to live mostly on farming and other menial work available to the surroundings.
• Urban Poverty


  Occurs in the metropolitan areas with population over 50,000. Challenges include limited access to health and education, inadequate housing and services, violent and unhealthy environment because of overcrowding, and little or no social protection mechanism.
• Causes of Poverty

  • Lack of education
  • Big families
  • Corruption
  • Diseases
  • Overpopulation
  • Insufficient health insurance
  • Insufficient social aid
  • Exploitation of labor
  • Inflation and lack of investment
  • Wars
  • Natural Disasters
  • Inherited poverty
  • Adverse climatic condition
• Effects of Poverty

  • Low income
  • Dependence
  • Drug Addiction
  • Terrorism
  • High crime rate
  • Poor housing and living conditions
  • Inability to afford hospital treatment
  • Increase of the probability for conflicts
  • Mental issues
  • Starvation
  • Spread of diseases
  • Illness
• Poverty is multidimensional


  • Many factors converge to make poverty a complex, multidimensional phenomenon.
• Material Well-Being


  • Lack of multiple resources necessary for material well-being - especially food but also housing, land, and other assets - leading to physical deprivation.
• Psychological Well-Being


  • Poor people lack of voice, power, and independence, which subject them to exploitation. Vulnerable to rudeness, humiliation, and inhumane treatment by both private and public agents of the state from whom they seek help.
• State-Provided Infrastructure


  • Absence of basic infrastructure - particularly roads, transport, water, and health facilities.
• Four Primary Classifications of Assets

  • Physical capital
  • Social capital
  • Human capital
  • Environmental assets