Poverty

Poverty is deprivation based on lack of material resources. The concept is value-based and political. Hence its definition, causes and remedies (if any) are highly contentious.

Definitions

Primary and secondary poverty

The use of the terms primary and secondary poverty dates back to Seebohm Rowntree, who conducted the second British survey to calculate the extent of poverty. This was carried out in York and was published in 1899. He defined primary poverty as having insufficient income to “obtain the minimum necessaries for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency”. In secondary poverty, the income “would be sufficient for the maintenance of merely physical efficiency were it not that some portion of it is absorbed by some other expenditure.” Even with these rigorous criteria he found that 9.9% of the population was in primary poverty and a further 17.9% in secondary.

Absolute and comparative poverty

More recent definitions tend to use the terms absolute and comparative poverty. Absolute is in line with Rowntree's primary poverty, but comparative poverty is usually expressed in terms of ability to play a part in the society in which a person lives. Comparative poverty will thus vary from one country to another.

United Nations definitions

In 1995 the United Nations adopted definitions of absolute poverty and overall poverty.

Absolute poverty was defined as a condition characterised 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.

Overall poverty  was said to take various forms, including: lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods; hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education and other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments and social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterised by lack of participation in decision making and in civil, social and cultural life. It occurs in all countries: as mass poverty in many developing countries, pockets of poverty amid wealth in developed countries, loss of livelihoods as a result of economic recession, sudden poverty as a result of disaster or conflict, the poverty of low-wage workers, and the utter destitution of people who fall outside family support systems, social institutions and safety nets.

In 2007 it also adopted a definition of child poverty: Children living in poverty are deprived of nutrition, water and sanitation facilities, access to basic health-care services, shelter, education, participation and protection, and that while a severe lack of goods and services hurts every human being, it is most threatening and harmful to children, leaving them unable to enjoy their rights, to reach their full potential and to participate as full members of the society.

Voluntary poverty

In a religious context, voluntary poverty is the state of disburdening oneself of material possessions in order to achieve a higher purpose. It is normally assumed that the person concerned has the means to maintain a healthy life. It is not a concept considered in most discussions of poverty, and is not further discussed in this article.

Causes of poverty

The causes of poverty most often considered are:

• Character defects
• An established “culture of poverty”, with low expectations handed down from one generation to another
• Unemployment
• Irregular employment, and/or low pay
• Position in the life cycle (see below) and household size
• Disability
• Structural inequality, both within countries and between countries. (R H Tawney: “What thoughtful rich people call the problem of poverty, thoughtful poor people call with equal justice a problem of riches”)

As noted above, most of these, or the extent to which they can be, or should be changed, are matters of heated controversy.

Life cycle

Rowntree posited five periods in the life cycle for going into and out of poverty:

(1) childhood – poverty

(2) early working adulthood – relative prosperity

(3) parenthood – poverty

(4) working with no dependent children

(5) old age, with inability to work