relative poverty

Examples of relative poverty in the following topics:

• Measuring Poverty

  • The European Union's poverty threshold is based on relative poverty -- it measures how far below median income a person is, rather than whether or not they can meet their daily needs.
  • Poverty is usually measured as either absolute or relative poverty.
  • Relative poverty explains poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context.
  • Usually, relative poverty is measured as the percentage of the population with income less than some fixed proportion of median income.
  • Relative poverty measures are used as official poverty rates in several developed countries and are measured according to several different income inequality metrics, including the Gini coefficient and the Theil Index.

• Relative Deprivation Approach

  • This differentiates relative deprivation from objective deprivation (also known as absolute deprivation or absolute poverty), a condition that applies to all underprivileged people.
  • This leads to an important conclusion: while the objective deprivation (poverty) in the world may change over time, relative deprivation will not, as long as social inequality persists and some humans are better off than others.
  • 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.
  • Notice that if everyone's real income in an economy increases, but the income distribution stays the same, the number of people living in relative poverty will not change.

• Poverty

  • By local standards of relative poverty, the wealthiest person in a town in Liberia is well-off, but measured on a global scale that person is likely to be considered relatively poor.
  • 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.
  • If there is a high level of social mobility, it is relatively easy for people to leave poverty.

• 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.
  • Relative poverty is an approach based more upon a benchmark, that is to say the upper echelon of society versus the poor.
  • Income distribution measures lend insight into relative poverty levels.

• Poverty

  • By a local measure of relative poverty, the wealthiest person in a town in Liberia is well-off, but measured on a global scale that person is likely to be relatively poor.
  • 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.
  • It enables comparisons between the relative wealth and poverty of countries — the higher a country's GNI PPP is, the better off the average person in that country is.
  • 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.

• Measurement Problems

  • The primary drawback to this approach is that it measures relative poverty (as opposed to absolute poverty).
  • The Gini index still has important implications about relative inequality in this circumstance, but it neglects to point out positive gains.
  • However, due to the fact that poverty lines are different in different countries (because there is no standard way in which to enforce setting and measuring the poverty line) it is not relative.
  • One interesting risk in measuring poverty is the concept of voluntary poverty, or the active pursuit of living at the absolute bare minimum.
  • One criticism of this method is that national poverty lines are not derived objectively in a standardized fashion, and thus there is limited value to this graphic in relative terms.

• Assessing the Great Society

  • 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.
  • Historian Alan Brinkley has suggested that "the gap between the expansive intentions of the War on Poverty and its relatively modest achievements fueled later conservative arguments that government is not an appropriate vehicle for solving social problems. " One of Johnson's aides, Joseph A.
  • 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.

• Mapping data (special topic)

  • Figures 1.30 and 1.31 shows intensity maps for federal spending per capita (fed spend), poverty rate in percent (poverty), homeownership rate in percent (homeownership), and median household income (med income).
  • What interesting features are evident in the fed spend and poverty intensity maps?
  • There are also seemingly random counties with very high federal spending relative to their neighbors.
  • Poverty rates are evidently higher in a few locations.
  • (b) Intensity map of poverty rate (percent).

• The Nonworking Poor

  • The nonworking poor are unemployed people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line.
  • The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line.
  • Conversely, the nonworking poor are unemployed people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line .
  • Since the start of the War on Poverty in the 1960s, scholars and policymakers on both ends of the political spectrum have paid an increasing amount of attention to tackling poverty.
  • Working poor people who do not have friends or relatives with whom they can live often find themselves unable to rent an apartment of their own.

• The Dynamics of Poverty

  • Poverty operates in a dynamic cycle, with the effects of poverty increasing the likelihood that it will be transferred between generations.
  • This perpetuation of deprivation is the cycle of poverty.
  • The basic premise of the poverty cycle the idea that poverty is a dynamic process—its effects may also be its causes.
  • Without these resources, poverty-stricken individuals experience disadvantages that, in turn, increase their poverty.
  • Finally, poverty increases the risk of homelessness.