The poverty
threshold or poverty line is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular
country. In practice, like the
definition of poverty,
the official or common understanding of the poverty line is significantly
higher indeveloped countries than in developing countries. The common international poverty line has in the past been roughly $1 a day.In
2008, the World Bank came out with a figure (revised largely
due to inflation) of $1.25 at 2005 purchasing-power parity (PPP).
Determining the
poverty line is usually done by finding the total cost of all the essential
resources that an average human adult consumes in one year.The largest of these
expenses is typically the rent required to live in an apartment, so
historically, economists have paid particular attention to the real estate
market and housing prices as a strong poverty line affector. Individual factors
are often used to account for various circumstances, such as whether one is a
parent, elderly, a child, married, etc. The poverty threshold may be adjusted annually.
Absolute poverty is
the level of poverty as defined in terms of the minimal requirements necessary
to afford minimal standards of food, clothing, health care and shelter. For the measure to be absolute, the
line must be the same in different countries, cultures, and technological
levels. Such an absolute measure should look only at the individual's power to
consume and it should be independent of any changes in income distribution. The
intuition behind an absolute measure is that mere survival takes essentially
the same amount of resources across the world and that everybody should be
subject to the same standards if meaningful comparisons of policies and
progress are to be made. Notice that if everyone's real income in an economy
increases, and the income distribution does not change, absolute poverty will
decline.
Measuring poverty by
an absolute threshold has the advantage of applying the same standard across
different locations and time periods: it makes comparisons easier. On the other
hand, it suffers from the disadvantage that any absolute poverty threshold is
to some extent arbitrary; the amount of wealth required for survival is not the
same in all places and time periods. For example, a person living in far
northern Scandinavia requires a source of heat during colder months, while a
person living on a tropical island does not.
This type of measure
is often contrasted with measures of relative poverty (see below), which
classify individuals or families as "poor" not by comparing them to a
fixed cutoff point, but by comparing them to others in the population under
study.
The term absolute poverty is also sometimes used as a synonym
for extreme
poverty. Absolute poverty is the absence of enough resources (such
as money) to secure basic life necessities.
According to a UN
declaration that resulted from the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, absolute
poverty is "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.
National estimates are based on
population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys. Definitions of
the poverty line do vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations
generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations. Even
among rich nations, the standards differ greatly. Thus, the numbers are not
comparable among countries. Even when nations do use the same method, some
issues may remain
In 2015, in the
United States, the poverty threshold for a single person under 65 was at an
annual income of US$11,770; the threshold for a family group of four, including
two children, was US$24,250. According to the U.S. Census Bureau data released
on September 13, 2011, the nation's poverty rate rose to 15.1 percent in 2010.
In the UK, "more
than five million people – over a fifth (23 percent) of all
employees – were paid less than £6.67 an hour in April 2006. This value is
based on a low pay rate of 60 percent of full-time median earnings, equivalent
to a little over £12,000 a year for a 35-hour working week. In April 2006, a
35-hour week would have earned someone £9,191 a year – before tax or
National Insurance".
India's official
poverty level, on the other hand, is split according to rural vs. urban
thresholds. For urban dwellers, the poverty line is defined as living on less
than 538.60 rupees (approximately US$12) per month, whereas for rural dwellers,
it is defined as living on less than 356.35 rupees per month (approximately
US$7.50).
The big Question is: are you in poverty?
-ABDUULRAHAMAN HARUNA MUSA
KUW/U14/SLG/2030
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