The poverty level, also known as the poverty threshold in some discussions, is the level of matieral good people are expected to exceed or at least meet in order to live at an acceptable standard in a certain country or economy. This is computed by comparing a person’s total income for a year against the expected required money to address a person’s need for necessities such as food, shelter and other expenses such as health care and clothing.
The poverty line can be different in the various regions around the world due to the deviations in the cost of living. However, this can be easily equalized by looking at the same indicators for poverty, and comparing costs according to purchasing power and average income. In terms of an individual, most experts agree that poverty occurs when one is underweight (or below 16 in the body mass index) and when one does not have enough money to have access to the following:
- right nutrition;
- potable water supply;
- a relatively acceptable and safe habitat;
- enough access to information, healthcare, and legal and social benefits.
Once a person falls below this standard, he or she is considered to be under the poverty line.
The incidence of poverty varies across the world. As one would expect, nations from the European continent have the best showing in most studies. In one study by the United Nations Human Development Commission, only the sovereign states of Moldova and Georgia have populations (more than 2%) that are below the global standard of 1.25 US dollars per day.
Surprisingly, Mexico, Canada and United States also ended up with less than two percent of their population under the poverty line. This could be attributed to the generally high cost of living in these two countries. Whereas the value of 1.25 US dollars could be more than enough to sustain a person living elsewhere for a day, that amount can most definitely not provide the necessary food, clothing and shelter that an American or Canadian would require for a single day.
Poverty is a big problem in Latin America. According to poverty statistics, the only country that has a relatively low incidence of child poverty is Costa Rica. Less than six percent of the population is considered to be below the poverty line in this region. The nations of Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama are slightly worse off, while the nation of Honduras is faring the worst. Haiti in the Caribbean is one of the most impoverished nations on Earth.
The African continent is ground zero for poverty and is in most need of poverty alleviation and education. Almost all of the countries in the continent have higher than twenty percent of their total population subsisting on less than 1.25 US dollars a day. Asia is on a similar boat, with relatively high poverty rates outside of the robust economies of South Korea, Japan and Taiwan. The situation is grim in Southeast Asia and South Asia where most countries have more than a quarter of their citizens mired in poverty.
Poverty is a human condition that is perhaps easy to address on an individual basis, but very difficult to combat on a global scale. To some extent, programs that improve education, skills, food availability and welfare aid in alleviating poverty incidence in any nation. But for a sustainable means of addressing this problem, more fundamental changes are needed, which include fostering a more equitable distribution of wealth, and an attitude of sharing and helping where necessary.
Delicious
Digg
Google
Yahoo
