Library Index :: Social Issues & Debate Topics
 

What Is Poverty? - Defining And Measuring Poverty Internationally, Poverty Lines And The Dollar-a-day Standard, Poverty Thresholds And Guidelines In The United States

Most people have an idea of what it means to be poor. We think of conditions like hunger, homelessness, preventable diseases, unemployment, and illiteracy as elements of poverty. Those and other issues will be covered later in this book. However, from a social and economic standpoint, poverty is a complex topic that can be difficult to describe in objective terms. Most governments and social service agencies have their own definitions of poverty, including how it is measured and who is considered poor. This chapter will explain the means used by the United States and the international community to define and measure poverty.

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What Is Poverty? - Defining And Measuring Poverty Internationally

Because being poor differs dramatically across countries, experts have had a difficult time establishing concrete terms to discuss it. Since the publication of its Human Development Report (1997), the United Nations has defined poverty as the "denial of choices and opportunities most basic to human development—to lead a long, healthy, creative life and enjoy a decent standard of livi…

What Is Poverty? - Poverty Lines And The Dollar-a-day Standard

A poverty line is a level of income below which a person cannot afford the bare minimum to exist: an amount of food sufficient to fuel the human body, clothing appropriate to a person's living and working conditions, and suitable shelter to protect from the elements. Governments determine their countries' poverty lines by calculating the annual average cost of basic necessities for a…

What Is Poverty? - Poverty Thresholds And Guidelines In The United States

Governmental agencies in the United States tend to avoid using the term "poverty line" because they consider it ambiguous. Instead, U.S. officials divide poverty measurement tools into two categories: thresholds and guidelines. The U.S. Census Bureau issues poverty thresholds, which are statistical measurements used to track the total number of people living in poverty in the United…

What Is Poverty? - Controversies Over U.s. Poverty Measurements

In the paper "Reconsidering the Federal Poverty Measure" (University of Maryland School of Public Policy, Welfare Reform Academy, June 14, 2004), Douglas J. Besharov and Peter Germanis discuss problems with the use of thresholds and guidelines, noting two commonly cited failures of the measurements: Besharov and Germanis write that many commentators believe a more accurate picture of…

What Is Poverty? - Classifying Countries By Level Of Economic Development

In addition to the above definitions and measurements of poverty, countries are classified by how "developed" they are economically. During the cold war—the period of escalating tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted from the 1950s until the Berlin Wall was dismantled in 1989—the terms "first world," "second world,…

Minorities in the Labor Force - A Historical Perspective, Labor Force Participation And Unemployment, Discriminatory Employment Practices, Workforce Projections For 2010 [next]

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