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Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance. The factors that have been alleged to cause poverty include the following:
Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance. The factors that have been alleged to cause poverty include the following:


* Laziness.
* Poor, failed, or absence of an [[infrastructure]], lack of opportunities.
* Poor, failed, or absence of an [[infrastructure]], lack of opportunities.
* State discrimination and [[Political corruption|corruption]]. Abuse of public power.
* State discrimination and [[Political corruption|corruption]]. Abuse of public power.

Revision as of 03:28, 4 September 2006

World map showing Life expectancy.
World map showing tbe Human Development Index.
World map showing the Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality.

Poverty is an economic condition of lacking both money and basic necessities needed to successfully live such as food, water, education, and shelter. There are many working definitions of "poverty," with considerable debate on how to best define the term. Income security, economic stability and the predictability of one's continued means to meet basic needs all serve as absolute indicators of poverty. Poverty may therefore also be defined as the economic condition of lacking predictable and stable means of meeting basic life needs. Additionally, the concept of "choice," or of "liberty," are often central to common understandings of poverty. Either an absolute lack of choice (i.e. slavery) in how one secures the means of meeting survival needs, or limited options for how to secure such means may also fit into common conceptions of poverty. The causes of poverty are highly debatable, though the most common causes are lack of education, war, natural disasters, political corruption, mental illness, and disability.

Those who live in conditions of poverty lack a wide range of economic and other resources and may be described as poor, in low income, or impoverished. Some see the term as subjective and comparative, others see it as moral and evaluative, while others consider that it is scientifically established.

Poverty is understood in many senses. The main understandings of the term include:

  • Descriptions of material need, typically including the necessities of daily living (food, clothing, shelter, and health care). Poverty in this sense may be understood as the deprivation of essential goods and services.
  • Descriptions of social need, including social exclusion, dependency, and the ability to participate in society. This would include education and information. Social exclusion is usually distinguished from poverty, as it encompasses political and moral issues, and is not restrained to the sphere of economics.
  • Describing a lack of sufficient income and wealth. The meaning of "sufficient" varies widely across the different political and economic parts of the world.

Measuring poverty

A poverty stricken area in India

Although the most severe poverty is in the developing world, there is evidence of poverty in every region. In developed countries, this condition results in wandering homeless people and poor suburbs and ghettos. Poverty may be seen as the collective condition of poor people, or of poor groups, and in this sense entire nation-states are sometimes regarded as poor. To avoid stigma these nations are usually called developing nations.

When measured, poverty may be absolute (also known as Graham Parnaby Poor) or relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the human body (approximately 2000-2500 kilocalories per day). Absolute poverty is a condition that applies to people with the lowest incomes, the least education, the lowest social status, the fewest opportunities, etc.

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US$ (PPP) 1 per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day. It has been estimated that in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day. The proportion of the developing world's population living in extreme economic poverty has fallen from 28 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2001. Much of the improvement has occurred in East and South Asia. In Sub-Saharan Africa GDP/capita shrank with 14 percent and extreme poverty increased from 41 percent in 1981 to 46 percent in 2001. Other regions have seen little or no change. In the early 1990s the transition economies of Europe and Central Asia experienced a sharp drop in income. Poverty rates rose to 6 percent at the end of the decade before beginning to recede. [2] There are various crticisms of these measurements.[3][4]

Life expectancy has been increasing and converging for most of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa has recently seen a decline, partly related to the HIV epidemic.

Other indicators of absolute poverty are also improving. Life expectancy has greatly increased in the developing world since WWII and is starting to close the gap to the developed world where the improvement has been smaller. Even in Sub-Saharan Africa, the least developed region, life expectancy increased from 30 years before World War II to a peak of about 50 years before the HIV pandemic and other diseases started to force it down to the current level of 47 years. Child mortality has decreased in every developing region of the world [5]. The proportion of the world's population living in countries where per-capita food supplies are less than 2,200 calories (9,200 kilojoules) per day decreased from 56% in the mid-1960s to below 10% by the 1990s. Between 1950 and 1999, global literacy increased from 52% to 81% of the world. Women made up much of the gap: Female literacy as a percentage of male literacy has increased from 59% in 1970 to 80% in 2000. The percentage of children not in the labor force has also risen to over 90% in 2000 from 76% in 1960. There are similar trends for electric power, cars, radios, and telephones per capita, as well as the proportion of the population with access to clean water.[6]

Relative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context. In this case, the number of people counted as poor could increase while their income rise. A relative measurement would be to compare the total wealth of the poorest one-third of the population with the total wealth of richest 1% of the population. There are several different income inequality metrics, one example is the Gini coefficient. Relative poverty is a condition that is measured by comparing one group’s situation to the situations of those who are more advantaged.

In many developed countries the official definition of poverty used for statistical purposes is based on relative income. As such many critics argue that poverty statistics measure inequality rather than material deprivation or hardship. Furthermore, they are usually based on a person's yearly income and frequently take no account of total wealth. The main poverty line used in the OECD and the European Union is based on "economic distance", a level of income set at 50% of the median household income. The US poverty line is more arbitrary. It was created in 1963-64 and was based on the dollar costs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "economy food plan" multiplied by a factor of three. The multiplier was based on research showing that food costs then accounted for about one third of the total money income. This one-time calculation has since been annually updated for inflation.[7]

A shanty town in Manila.

Income inequality for the world as a whole may be diminishing.[8]

Even if poverty may be lessening for the world as a whole, it continues to be an enormous problem:

  • One third of deaths - some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day - are due to poverty-related causes. That's 270 million people since 1990, the majority women and children, roughly equal to the population of the US.
  • Every year nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday.
  • 800 million people go to bed hungry every day.
  • The three richest people in the world control more wealth than all 600 million people living in the world's poorest countries.[9]

Causes of poverty

File:P7032101 small2.jpg
A homeless Frenchman in Paris.

Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance. The factors that have been alleged to cause poverty include the following:

Effects of poverty

Poverty-stricken Women washing their clothes by a Main Road in Mumbai, India.

Here are the alleged factors in what poverty may cause in terms of the community, some are in reverse causations of poverty as mentioned above, thus complicating the subject further:

Eliminating poverty

In politics, the fight against poverty is usually regarded as a social goal and many governments have — secondarily at least — some dedicated institutions or departments.

Economic growth

  • The anti-poverty strategy of the World Bank [11] depends heavily on reducing poverty through the promotion of economic growth. However, some consider this approach does not actively or directly work to reduce or eliminate poverty. The World Bank argues that an overview of many studies show that:
    • Growth is fundamental for poverty reduction, and in principle growth as such does not seem to affect inequality.
    • Growth accompanied by progressive distributional change is better than growth alone.
    • High initial income inequality is a brake on poverty reduction.
    • Poverty itself is also likely to be a barrier for poverty reduction; and wealth inequality seems to predict lower future growth rates.[12]
  • Research on the Index of Economic Freedom suggests that a set of economic conditions which have been termed "economic freedom" help increase growth and reduce poverty.
  • Business groups see the reduction of barriers to the creation of new businesses [13], or reducing barriers for existing business, as having the effect of bringing more people into the formal economy.

Welfare rights

  • Apart from the market oriented economic development approach, one significant approach for poverty reduction is through the state intervention. The state may create laws that ensures some welfare rights to its citizens. One of the approaches in very poor areas (especially developing countries is through Social Protection.

Direct aid

  • The government can directly help those in need. This has been applied in most Western societies during the 20th century in what became known as the welfare state. Especially for those most at risk, such as the elderly and people with disabilities. The help can be for example monetary or food aid.
  • Private charity. This is often formally encouraged within the legal system. For example, charitable trusts and tax deductions for charity.

Improving the social environment and abilities of the poor

  • Affordable housing development and urban regeneration.
  • Affordable education.
  • Affordable health care.
  • Providing help in finding employment.
  • Subsidizing employment of groups that have difficulty finding work otherwise.
  • Encouraging political participation and community organizing.

Millennium Development Goals

Church Street in San Francisco, California. A homeless person resting in front of a dilapidated building on an otherwise upscale street tries to rest while one of several passersby takes notice. Chronic homelessness was a major issue in the 2003 mayoral campaign.

Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 is a Millennium Development Goal. In addition to broader approaches, the Sachs Report (for the UN Millennium Project) [14] proposes a series of "quick wins", approaches identified by development experts which would cost relatively little but could have a major constructive effect on world poverty. The quick wins are:

Other approaches

Most developed nations send some aid to developing nations. Polls have shown that, on average, Americans believe that 24% of the federal budget goes to development assistance. In reality, less than 1% of the budget goes to this.[15]

Most developing countries have produced Poverty Reduction Strategy papers or PRSPs [16].

Inequality can be reduced by progressive taxation, wealth tax, and/or inheritance tax.

Some argue for a radical change of the economic system. There are several proposals for a fundamental restructuring of existing economic relations, and many of their supporters argue that their ideas would reduce or even eliminate poverty entirely if they were implemented. Such proposals have been put forward by both left-wing and right-wing groups:socialism, communism, anarchism, libertarianism and participatory economics, among others.

In law, there has been a movement to seek to establish the absence of poverty as a human right.

In his book "The End of Poverty" [17], world renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs laid out a lucid plan to eradicate global poverty by the year 2025. Following his doctrine, international organizations such as the Global Solidarity Network are helping end poverty working with governments and partners to help eradicate poverty worldwide with known, proven, reliable, and appropriate interventions in the areas of housing, food, education, basic health, agricultural inputs, safe drinking water, transportation and communications.

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is an organization in the United States working to secure freedom from poverty for all by organizing the poor themselves. The Campaign believes that a human rights framework, based on the value of inherent dignity and worth of all persons, offers the best means by which to organize for a political solution to poverty.

Debates about poverty

A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find.

The underlying causes of poverty and the elimination thereof are a controversial, politicized issue. Those with right wing views may consider that poverty results from personal choices or preferences, the breakdown of "traditional values", lack of birth control, and over-interference by government. They may also look to structural factors that prevent economic growth, such as poorly protected property rights, lacking credit system, crime, bullying, and corruption.

Those with more left wing views typically see poverty as the result of many systemic factors unrelated to personal choices or preferences. For instance, they consider that poverty is caused by lack of opportunity (particularly in education), and that it is often the lack of government intervention which results in more poverty. They tend to believe that alleviating poverty is a matter of social justice and that it is the responsibility of the wealthy to help those in need.

Religious Poverty

St. Francis of Assisi renounces his worldly goods in a painting attributed to Giotto di Bondone.

Among some groups, in particular religious groups, poverty is considered a necessary or desirable condition, which must be embraced in order to reach certain spiritual, moral, or intellectual states. Poverty is often understood to be an essential element of renunciation among Buddhists and Jains, whilst in Roman Catholicism, it is one of the evangelical counsels, and taken as a vow among religious orders. The way poverty is understood among these orders takes a variety of forms. For example, whereas the Franciscan orders have traditionally forgone all individual and corporate forms of ownership, according to the Rule of St. Benedict, whilst individual ownership of goods and wealth is forbidden, the monastery itself may possess both goods and money, and through history some monasteries have become very rich indeed.

In this context of religious vows, poverty may be understood as a means of self-denial in order to place oneself at the service of others; Pope Honorius III wrote in 1217 that the Dominicans "lived a life of voluntary poverty, exposing themselves to innumerable dangers and sufferings, for the salvation of others". However, following Jesus' warning that riches can be like thorns that choke up the good seed of the word (Matthew 13:22), voluntary poverty is often understood by Christians as of benefit to the individual- a form of self-discipline by which one distances oneself from distractions from God.

See also: Asceticism

Quotations

  • "Nobody hears the cries of the poor, or the sound of a wooden bell". --- Haitian proverb [1]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Poverty.

Organisations and campaigns

Notes

  1. ^ motto of the magazine "The Wooden Bell", published by Catholic Relief Services. [1]
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