We explain what poverty is, the types that exist and how it is measured. We also explain its characteristics, causes and consequences.
What is Poverty?
Poverty is understood as the social and economic condition of lack of resources (or the lack of tools to acquire them), which allow the satisfaction of the minimum physical and psychological needs for an adequate standard of living, such as food, housing, health care, access to basic services (electricity, drinking water, telephone lines) and formal education.
There are various factors involved in poverty, as well as different ways of measuring it, but in general terms it is understood from the lack of means to acquire essential resources for life, such as unemployment, lack or low level of income, or significant conditions of marginalization and social exclusion that make social advancement and integration on equal terms into society as a whole very difficult.
Poverty is one of the world’s major social evils Other scourges and difficulties in the development of nations are already attributed to it, as well as the construction of a world of profound inequalities. However, there does not seem to be unanimous methods to combat it.
See also: Basic needs.
Concept of Poverty
Poverty is difficult to define. Etymologically, The word comes from Latin paupersa word that was used for cattle that gave birth infrequently or for soil that was not very fertile. Therefore, it is a word that has been linked from early on with scarcity and deprivation.
In general terms, it is associated, in capitalist society, with the lack of financial resources or the tools to obtain them; but in reality it goes much further than a simple lack of capital.
Types of poverty
A distinction is commonly made between critical poverty and extreme poverty, based on the number of vital deprivations suffered, as follows:
- Critical poverty. Critical poverty is the poverty suffered by citizens who cannot meet the basic consumption basket, consisting of food and basic vital services. This refers to those who invest all their capital exclusively in food.
- Extreme poverty. Considered as a lower level, at this stage individuals cannot even access the basic food basket, that is, they cannot even consume a basic daily amount of calories. Indigence occurs at this level.
On the other hand, poverty measurement distinguishes, according to its socioeconomic context, between absolute poverty and relative poverty.
- Relative poverty. It is considered from its immediate socioeconomic environment, whether it is a city, a region, a country or a continent. This is because the economic and social terms of one place can be very different from those of another and not be directly comparable.
- Absolute poverty. Absolute poverty is a general measurement and seeks to establish uniform criteria that are generally located in the minimum consumption basket to distinguish the poor from the rest of society.
Measuring poverty
There are different ways to measure poverty. The most traditional one was proposed by the World Bank and involves dividing a country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by its population. Those whose income falls below this national standard are considered poor.
The World Bank estimates since 2015 that The universal poverty line is $3.10 a day and the critical poverty rate of $1.90 per day.
This purely economic method has been criticized for not truly reflecting the dimensions of what it means to be poor, reducing it to just the lack of capital.
That is why it is preferred measurement in terms of the Human Development Index proposed by the UN, which takes into account other factors such as literacy rates, access to basic services (such as water or electricity), access to health, among others.
Causes of poverty
Poverty does not have simple, determined causes but is rather the consequence of a series of historical, social and cultural construction conditions.
Some theorists They accuse the imperial history of European nationswhich plundered and colonized the other continents, as the reason that they entered the modern world in very unequal conditions and economic dependence, which translates into considerable margins of poverty.
On the other hand, poverty It usually involves significant educational deficiencieswhich also includes sexual and reproductive education. Thus, the poorest populations are more prone to early pregnancy and unplanned families, which limits their chances of improvement and restarts the cycle of marginalization and poverty.
Finally, Wars and territorial conflicts often leave people helpless those who suffer from them, whether they are refugees, migrants or survivors, and are often reduced to conditions of poverty that cannot be overcome until several generations into the future.
Consequences of poverty
Poverty has notable consequences for nations and societies, such as:
- Crime and drugs. Poverty is not directly linked to crime and drugs, but it is true that, being in desperate and marginalized conditions, the poor are more likely to accept illegal businesses in exchange for a higher economic income.
- Malnutrition. Especially in the child population, which increases infant mortality rates.
- Social resentment. Social exclusion breeds resentment, and that resentment can lead to urban violence, mass support for populist leaders, or other mass phenomena.
- Pandemics. Extreme poverty, with little medical care and little access to public health, can be a breeding ground for the emergence of mass contagious diseases.
- Low human development. Populations with high poverty levels have slower markets, less investment in culture and, in general, less development as a society.
Global poverty rates
The World Bank’s 2012 measurement showed the following figures for global poverty:
- In developing countries, poverty is around 22.43%, which represents a relative improvement compared to 52.16% in 1981.
- 2 billion people in the world lack access to medicines and suffer from anemia.
- More than 1 billion people in the world live in extreme poverty, without decent housing, and 70% of them are women.
- More than 1.8 billion people lack access to safe drinking water.
- About 100,000 people die of hunger every day.
Poorest countries by GDP
The poorest countries on each continent are, according to the World Bank (2012):
You may be interested in: Poverty in Mexico.
Poorest countries according to HDI
According to the United Nations Human Development Index (2014), the poorest countries are:
- Central America and the Caribbean. Haiti, Nicaragua and Honduras.
- South America. Guyana, Bolivia, Paraguay.
- Africa. Niger, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic.
- Europe. Modalvia, Albania and Armenia.
- Oceania. Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati.
Fight against poverty
Numerous global organizations combat poverty through large-scale aid initiatives, ranging from educational schemes (such as those of UNICEF), Medical and food aid (mainly to refugees, by the UN)or simply projects of economic protection and international aid.
However, inequality between first and third world nations is so significant that there is no simple solution to poverty.
Cultural assessment
Poverty is usually seen as a social problem and a defectfrom early times. It is associated with bad taste, vulgarity and licentious customs (theft, addictions, prostitution), as well as with ethnic groups and races that are disadvantaged in the hegemonic imagination.
However, traditions such as Christianity and Eastern mysticism have seen a value in the vow of poverty, as it means the renunciation of material possessions and ambitionsnecessary for spiritual elevation.