absolute poverty

Examples of absolute poverty in the following topics:

• Measuring Poverty

  • Someone living in economic poverty may be homeless; someone living in social poverty may be illiterate.
  • The UN's measure of global poverty based on whether or not a person earns $1.25/day (adjusted for international purchasing power) is a measure of absolute poverty -- it is based on whether or not a person has the bare minimum to meet their material needs.
  • Poverty is usually measured as either absolute or relative poverty.
  • Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries.
  • Relative poverty explains poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context.

• Defining and Measuring Poverty

  • Absolute poverty is poverty to the extent of which an individual is deprived of the ability to fulfill basic human needs (i.e. water, shelter, food, education, etc.).
  • In observing poverty over time, the rates of poverty alongside the advances in economic production, demonstrates the value in technological and economic progress.
  • Poverty is generally divided into absolute or relative poverty, with absolute concepts referring to a standard that is consistent over time and geographic location.
  • An example of absolute poverty is the number of people without access to clean drinking water, or the number of people eating less food than the body requires for survival.
  • Absolute poverty levels, as discussed above, essentially underline the ability for an individual to survive with autonomy.

• Poverty

  • Poverty is the condition of not having access to material resources, income, or wealth.
  • Near poverty is when one earns up to 25% above the poverty line; put otherwise, a person near poverty has an income below 125% of the current poverty line.
  • Absolute poverty is the level of poverty where individuals and families cannot meet food, shelter, warmth, and safety needs, while relative poverty refers to economic disadvantage compared to wealthier members of society.
  • Countries with low HDI tend to be caught in a national cycle of poverty -- they have little wealth to invest, but the lack of investment perpetuates their poverty.
  • This is a commonly used measure of poverty to allow international comparisons.

• Assessing the Great Society

  • The poverty rate is defined as the percentage of Americans living below the ‘absolute poverty line. ' The absolute poverty line is defined by the Office of Health and Human Services as the threshold at which families can afford the basic necessities of food, shelter and clothing.
  • The War on Poverty coincided with a reduction in poverty rates.
  • The poverty rate declined further after the implementation of the War on Poverty, hitting a low point of 11.1% in 1973.
  • Number of People in Poverty and Poverty Rate in the United States, 1959-2009
  • Observers debate the impact of the Great Society and War on Poverty on poverty rates and the economy.

• Measurement Problems

  • The primary drawback to this approach is that it measures relative poverty (as opposed to absolute poverty).
  • This criticism spans across most poverty measurement systems (Thiel entropy, the 20:20 ratio, and the Palma ratio to name a few), and ultimately implies that much of what is measured as inequality does not take into account absolute gains.
  • A poverty line is the determination of a specific income level in which it is considered the absolute minimum amount of capital required for an individual or family to live (and have all necessities) over the course of one year.
  • While there is great absolute value in utilizing a poverty line to determining the percentage of people still surviving on less than is considered the bare minimum, there are also drawbacks to this method as well.
  • One interesting risk in measuring poverty is the concept of voluntary poverty, or the active pursuit of living at the absolute bare minimum.

• Poverty

  • Poverty is the condition of not having access to material resources, income, or wealth.
  • The United States officially defines poverty using the poverty line.
  • "Near poverty" is the term for an income level that is just above the poverty line; it refers to incomes that are no more than 25% above the poverty line.
  • "Relative poverty" refers to economic disadvantage compared to wealthier members of society, whereas "absolute poverty" refers to a family (or an individual) with an income so low that they cannot afford basic necessities of survival, such as food and shelter.
  • In the United States, minorities and women are more likely to be living in poverty.

• Relative Deprivation Approach

  • Feelings of deprivation are relative, as they come from a comparison to social norms that are not absolute and usually differ from time and place.
  • This differentiates relative deprivation from objective deprivation (also known as absolute deprivation or absolute poverty), a condition that applies to all underprivileged people.
  • A specific form of relative deprivation is relative poverty.
  • A measure of relative poverty defines poverty as being below some relative poverty line, such as households who earn less than 20% of the median income.
  • Discuss the concepts of relative and absolute deprivation as they relate to social movements

• "The War on Poverty"

  • The Kennedy Administration had been contemplating a federal effort against poverty.
  • The centerpiece of the War on Poverty was the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which created an Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to oversee a variety of community-based anti-poverty programs.
  • The impact of the War on Poverty is debated.
  • The ‘absolute poverty line' is the threshold below which families or individuals are considered to be lacking the resources needed for healthy living, that is having insufficient income to provide the food, shelter and clothing.
  • The popularity of the War on Poverty waned after the 1960s.

• The Great Society

  • The poverty rate is defined as the percentage of Americans living below the "absolute poverty line," which is defined by the Office of Health and Human Services as the threshold at which families can afford the basic necessities of food, shelter, and clothing.
  • The War on Poverty coincided with a reduction in poverty rates.
  • The United States government began keeping comprehensive records of the poverty rate in 1958, and the poverty rate had been declining when the War on Poverty was launched in 1964 – it fell from 22.4% in 1959 to 19% in 1964.
  • The poverty rate declined further after the implementation of the War on Poverty, hitting a low point of 11.1% in 1973.
  • Even noting the decline in poverty rates, there is still disagreement about the effects of the War on Poverty and the Great Society.

• Absolute Value

  • Absolute value can be thought of as the distance of a real number from zero.
  • For example, the absolute value of 5 is 5, and the absolute value of −5 is also 5, because both numbers are the same distance from 0.
  • The term "absolute value" has been used in this sense since at least 1806 in French and 1857 in English.
  • Other names for absolute value include "numerical value," "modulus," and "magnitude."
  • The absolute values of 5 and -5 shown on a number line.