Defining and Measuring Poverty

• Absolute Poverty• Relative Poverty

• Human Poverty Index• Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index

“Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of

human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in

society. It means not having enough to feed and cloth a family, not having a

school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a

job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity,

powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It

means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living on marginal or fragile

environments, without access to clean water or sanitation”

(UN Statement, June 1998 – signed by the heads of all UN agencies)

Defining Poverty

Have a think about that definition:

Q1. Which countries in the world have no poverty whatsoever by this definition?

We need to consider

Developed world poverty Developing world poverty

Two ways to think about poverty

Absolute PovertyAbsolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries.

Relative PovertyRelative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context, hence relative poverty is a measure of income inequality. Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage of population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income.

Poverty is…….

A very complicated phenomenon that is inherently problematic to measure

Defining Absolute Poverty

World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995,

Absolute poverty was defined as

"a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services."

Measuring Absolute/Relative? PovertyHuman Poverty Index 1 (HPI-1)(Developing Countries)

• Probability at birth of not surviving to age 40 (times 100)

• Adult illiteracy rate• Average of population without

sustainable access to an improved water source and children under weight for age

Human Poverty Index 2 (HPI-2)Selected OECD Countries

• Probability at birth of not surviving to age 60 (times 100)

• Adults lacking functional literacy skills

• Population below income poverty line (50% of median adjusted household disposable income)

• Rate of long-term unemployment (lasting 12 months or more)

And so………

‘The UN is attempting to create absolute measures of poverty in the developed world context and in the developing world context.’

This is, of course, relativism but it does set out absolute measures that can be used for a basis of comparison.

HPI-2 UK

The HPI-2 ranks 22 OECD (high levels of development ) countries

HPI-2 South Korea

Q2. Is there no poverty in South Korea or no data?

Q3. If either question is true how can we explain this?

HPI-1 China, DRC and South Africa

China

DRC

South Africa

Q4. Input this data into Excel and create an appropriate chart to display it

The HPI was dropped by the UN as a measure of poverty in 2010

Q5. What reasons do you think the UN had for dropping the HPI?

Q6. How would you replace the HPI?

The Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

The Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

Q6. In what ways do you think this measure is:

a) Better than the HPI?

b) Worse than the HPI?

The Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

Q7. Present this data in a more meaningful way and then describe what it shows.

Summary• Marginalization is the process of being relegated to an unimportant or

powerless position within society or a group.

• This is effectively relegating them to the periphery of society

• People in poverty are marginalized

• Poverty is hard to define and even harder to measure

• Nations are probably less inclined to measure poverty than development

• Every country in the world has people in poverty.

• At every scale societies are becoming less equal even though absolute poverty is decreasing