POVERTY

Absolute poverty

A situation where a population or a section of a population is able to meet only its bare subsistence essentials of food, clothing and shelter in order to maintain minimum levels of living.

Income is important but access to public goods – safe water supply, roads, healthcare, education – is of equal or greater importance, particularly in developing countries. There is a need to look beyond income and consumption expenditure poverty measures and at both the effects of low income and inadequate service provision. It is a lack of investment in good quality education, health and other public services in many parts of the world that is as significant a cause of

absolute poverty as low family incomes.

Measuring Poverty

Research has shown that all cultures have a concept and definition of poverty although these definitions often vary. A major problem with many previous attempts to measure poverty on a global scale was that there was no internationally agreed definition. This situation changed at the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995.

Among the innovations agreed by the governments of 117 countries was the preparation of national antipoverty plans based on measures in all countries of ‘absolute’ and ‘overall’ poverty (UN, 1995).

This research operationalised the definition of absolute poverty which 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 all soon access to social services.”

The Main Findings

1.    Almost a quarter (24%) of the world’s population is absolutely poor (over 1.4 billion people).

2.      Over 1.3 billion people (22%) have no toilet facilities whatsoever.

3.      Over 900 million people (15%) are severely educationally deprived – they have never been to school and are illiterate

4.      In the developing world, two out of every five people living in rural areas are absolutely poor compared with less than one in ten living in urban areas.

5.      Absolute poverty rates are more than ten times larger in the remote countryside (57%) than in the large cities (5%).

6.      Anti-poverty programmes need to address the problem of severe housing and sanitation deprivation in rural areas of Africa and South Asia.

7.      Children suffer from the highest rates of poverty and 200 million children less than 5 years old suffer from absolute poverty.

8.      Significantly more girls and women are absolutely poor that boys and men.

9.      Irrespective of the number of adults in a household the absolute poverty rate increases linearly with increasing numbers of children.

10.   In developing countries there are five religious groups where over half the followers suffer from absolute poverty (Animist/Shamanism, African Traditional religions, Hinduism, Zoroastrianismand Vodoun) by contrast fewer than one in ten followers of Jainism, Judaism and Confucianismare absolutely poor. Just over a third of Muslims (37%) and just under a third of Christians(27%) are absolutely poor.

11.   Two thirds of adults who are self employed and work in farming or fishing are absolutely poor compared with only one in a hundred of those employed to do clerical work. Anti-povertypolicies in developing countries need to encourage the creation of high quality jobs.

12.   Two thirds of adults in developing countries who had no education are absolutely poor.