Essay on Poverty: Definition, Types, Causes, Absolute and Relative Poverty

Shakil Abdullah February 28, 2021

Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs can't be met. Poverty-stricken people and families might go without proper housing, clean water, healthy food, and medical attention. Each nation may have its own threshold that determines how many of its people are living in poverty.

 

Essay on Poverty: Definition, Types, Causes, Absolute and Relative Poverty
Essay on Poverty

Definition of Poverty:

Poverty is a social condition that is characterized by the lack of resources necessary for basic survival or necessary to meet a certain minimum level of living standards expected for the place where one lives.

According to Gillin and Gillin,

“Poverty is that condition in which a person either because of inadequate income or unwise expenditures does not maintain a scale of living high enough to provide for his physical and mental efficiency and to enable him and his natural dependents to function usually according to the standards of society of which he is a member”.

According to Professor Snider,

"Generally poverty means the lower standard of livelihood than a normal standard of livelihood".

According to United Nations,

"Poverty is a multidimensional problem, particularly the inability to fulfil food, shelter, education, cloth and medical treatment".


Types of Poverty:

(1) Absolute Poverty:

If a person’s income or consumption expenditure is so low that he cannot live at minimum subsistence level, he is said to be absolutely poor. It basically indicates deprivation of some sort resulting in hunger and starvation.

People are said to be in absolute poverty if their earnings are insufficient to obtain the minimum necessities for the maintenance of physical efficiency. Such minimum necessities are usually measured in terms of minimum nutritional requirements.

(2) Relative Poverty:

Relative poverty concept indicates inequalities of income. The people of low income groups are relatively poor as compared to the people whose incomes are high. Here poverty is viewed in terms of inequality between the poorest group and the rest of the community. It is to be noted that relative poverty cannot be eradicated without transfers from the rich to the poor. At the same time the relatively poor may be living above the minimum subsistence level.

(3) Income Poverty:

Income poverty is the type of poverty measured by the federal government in the U.S. and documented by the U.S. Census. It exists when a household does not meet a set national minimum income considered necessary for the members of that household to achieve basic standards of living. The figure used to define poverty on a global scale is living on less than $2 per day. In the U.S., income poverty is determined by the size of the household and the number of children in the household, so there is no fixed income level that defines poverty for all. According to the U.S. Census, the poverty threshold for a single person living alone was $12,331 per year. For two adults living together, it was $15,871, and for two adults with a child, it was $16,337.

(4) Cyclical Poverty:

Cyclical poverty is a condition in which poverty is widespread but limited in its duration. This type of poverty is typically linked to specific events that disrupt a society, like war, an economic crash or recession, or natural phenomena or disasters that disrupt the distribution of food and other resources. For example, the poverty rate within the U.S. climbed throughout the Great Recession that began in 2008, and since 2010 has declined. This is a case in which an economic event caused a cycle of more intensive poverty that was fixed in duration (about three years).

(5) Collective Poverty:

Collective poverty is a lack of basic resources that are so widespread that it afflicts an entire society or subgroup of people within that society. This form of poverty persists over periods of time stretching across generations. It is common in formerly colonized places, frequently war-torn places, and places that have been heavily exploited by or excluded from participation in global commerce, including parts of Asia, the Middle East, much of Africa, and parts of Central and South America.

(6) Concentrated Collective Poverty:

Concentrated collective poverty occurs when the kind of collective poverty described above is suffered by specific subgroups within a society, or localized in particular communities or regions that are devoid of industry, good-paying jobs, and that lack access to fresh and healthy food. For example, within the U.S., poverty within metropolitan regions is concentrated within the principal cities of those regions, and often also within specific neighborhoods within cities. Case poverty occurs when a person or family is unable to secure resources required to meet their basic needs despite the fact that resources are not scarce and those around them are generally living well. Case poverty might be produced by the sudden loss of employment, inability to work, or injury or illness. While it might at first glance seem like an individual condition, it is actually a social one, because it is unlikely to occur in societies that provide economic safety nets to their populations.

(7) Asset Poverty:

Asset poverty is more common and widespread that income poverty and other forms. It exists when a person or household does not have enough wealth assets (in the form of property, investments, or money saved) to survive for three months if necessary. In fact, many people living in the U.S. today live in asset poverty. They may not be impoverished so long as they are employed, but could be thrown immediately into poverty if their pay were to stop.

(8) Situational Poverty:

It is a temporary type of poverty based on occurrence of an adverse event like environmental disaster, job loss and severe health problem. People can help themselves even with a small assistance, as the poverty comes because of unfortunate event.

(9) Generational Poverty:

It is handed over to individual and families from one generation to the one. This is more complicated as there is no escape because the people are trapped in its cause and unable to access the tools required to get out of it.

“Occurs in families where at least two generations have been born into poverty. Families living in this type of poverty are not equipped with the tools to move out of their situation” (Jensen, 2009).

(10) Rural Poverty:

It occurs in rural areas with population below 50,000. It is the area where there are less job opportunities, less access to services, less support for disabilities and quality education opportunities. People are tending to live mostly on the farming and other menial work available to the surroundings.

The rural poverty rate is growing and has exceeded the urban rate every year since data collection began in the 1960s. The difference between the two poverty rates has averaged about 5 percent for the last 30 years, with urban rates near 10–15 percent and rural rates near 15–20 percent (Jolliffe, 2004).

(11) Urban Poverty:

It occurs in the metropolitan areas with population over 50,000. These are some major challenges faced by the Urban Poor:
  • Limited access to health and education.
  • Inadequate housing and services.
  • Violent and unhealthy environment because of overcrowding.
  • Little or no social protection mechanism.


Causes of Poverty in Bangladesh:

  • Overpopulation
  • High birth rates
  • Illiteracy and lack of Education
  • Seasonal Unemployment
  • Low Wage
  • Natural Disaster
  • Death of Chief Wage-earner
  • Largeness of Family
  • Dowry
  • Illness and Injury
  • Debt
  • Crop Damage
  • Lack of Land
  • Price Rise of Agricultural Instruments
  • Low Productivity in Agriculture
  • Shortage of Capital and able Entrepreneurship
  • Social Relationship
  • Traditional Agriculture
  • Environmental Degradation
  • Climate Change


Briefly Causes of Poverty in Bangladesh:

1. Increase rate of rising population:

In the last 45 years, the population has increased at the whopping rate of 2.2% per annum. An average of approx. 17 million people are added every year to the population which raises the demand for consumption goods considerably.

2. Less productivity in agriculture:

In agriculture, the productivity level is very low due to subdivided and fragmented holdings, lack of capital, use of traditional methods of cultivation, illiteracy etc. The very reason for poverty in the country is this factor only.

3. Less utilization of resources:

Underemployment and veiled unemployment of human resources and less utilization of resources have resulted in low production in the agricultural sector. This brought a downfall in their standard of living.

4. A short rate of economic development:

In India, the rate of economic development is very low what is required for a good level. Therefore, there persists a gap between the level of availability and requirements of goods and services. The net result is poverty.

5. Increasing price rise:

Poor is becoming poorer because of continuous and steep price rise. It has benefited a few people in the society and the persons in lower income group find it difficult to get their minimum needs.

6. Unemployment:

One of the main causes of poverty is the continuous expanding army of unemployed in our country. The job seeker is increasing in number at a higher rate than the expansion in employment opportunities.

7. Shortage of capital and able entrepreneurship:

The much-required capital and sustainable entrepreneurship play a very important role in accelerating the growth. But these are in short supply making it difficult to increase production significantly.

8. Social factors:

Our country’s social set up is very much backward with the rest of the world and not at all beneficial for faster development. The caste system, inheritance law, rigid traditions and customs are putting hindrances in the way of faster development and have aggravated the problem of poverty.

9. Political factors:

We all know that the East India Company started lopsided development in India and had reduced our economy to a colonial state. They exploited the natural resources to suit their interests and weaken the industrial base of Indian economy. Hence, the planning was of immense failure to handle the problems of poverty and unemployment.

10. Unequal distribution of income:

If you simply increase the production or do a checking on population cannot help poverty in our country. We need to understand that inequality in the distribution of income and concentration of wealth should be checked. The government can reduce inequality of income and check the concentration of wealth by pursuing suitable monetary and price policies.

11. The problem of distribution:

The distribution channel should be robust in order to remove poverty. Mass consumption of goods and food grains etc. should be distributed first among the poor population. Present public distribution system must be re-organised and extended to rural and semi-urban areas of the country.

12. Regional poverty:

India is divided by the inappropriate proportion of poor in some states, like Nagaland, Orissa, Bihar, Nagaland, etc. is greater than the other states. The administration should offer special amenities and discounts to attract private capital investment to backward regions.

13. Provision for minimum requirements of the poor:

The government should take care of the minimum requirements, like drinking water, primary medical care, and primary education etc. of the poor.


Effects of Poverty:

  • Malnutrition and Hunger
  • Low literacy rate
  • Homelessness
  • Lower class of lifestyle
  • Several diseases
  • Increase in cost of living
  • Social crime increases
  • Child mortality decreases etc.

Malnutrition and Hunger:

According to the United Nations, 33 percent of Bangladeshi adolescent girls are anemic and micronutrient deficient and 25 percent of women ages 15-44 are unhealthily thin for their height. About 48 percent of Bangladeshi children are malnourished and 1.5 million of them die each year from diarrhea that both worsens and is worsened by malnutrition. 9

Low literacy Rate:

Poverty effect in literacy rate. When They have not enough financial support. Then he or she drop their education.

Homelessness:

About 44% of people living in the capital are deprived of any sort of housing facilities which are very alarming for the country, according to a survey conducted by Center for Urban Strategies in 2007. Of the 44% homeless, 35% stay in slums while 8%-9% floating section of them beside roads, rail lines and parks.

Several Diseases:

Communicable diseases were the major health hazards in the 1980s. Poor nutrition and sanitation fostered the spread of infections. Infectious diseases--cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, measles, tetanus and malaria were responsible for widespread illness and numerous deaths.



Top 9 Causes of Global Poverty:

1. Inadequate access to clean water and nutritious food

Currently, more than 2 billion people don’t have access to clean water at home, while over 800 million suffer from hunger. You might think that poverty causes hunger and prevents people from accessing clean water (and you would be right!), but hunger and water insecurity are also big reasons why people struggle to escape extreme poverty.

If a person doesn’t get enough food, they simply don’t have the strength and energy needed to work, while lack of access to food and clean water can also lead to preventable illnesses like diarrhea. And when people must travel far distances to clinics or spend what little money remains on medicine, it drains already vulnerable populations of money and assets, and can knock a family from poverty into extreme poverty.

Even if clean water sources are available, they’re often located far from poor, rural communities. This means that women and girls collectively spend some 200 million hours every day walking long distances to fetch water. That’s precious time that could be used working, or getting an education to help secure a job later in life.

2. Little or no access to livelihoods or jobs

This might seem a bit like a “no brainer.” Without a job or a way to make money, people will face poverty. But it’s easy to assume that if someone wants a job, they could have one. That just isn’t true, particularly in developing and rural parts of the world. Dwindling access to productive land (often due to conflict, overpopulation, or climate change), and overexploitation of resources like fish or minerals is putting increasing pressure on many traditional livelihoods. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for example, most of the population lives in rural communities where natural resources have been plundered over centuries of colonialism — while conflict over land disputes has forced people from the land they relied upon for food and money. Now, more than half of the country lives in extreme poverty. While inconsistent work and low paying jobs can land a family in poverty, absolutely no work means that a family can’t get by without assistance.

3. Conflict

Conflict can cause poverty in several ways. Large scale, protracted violence that we see in places like Syria can grind society to a halt, destroy infrastructure, and cause people to flee, forcing families to sell or leave behind all their assets. In Syria, around 70% of the entire population now lives below the poverty line — this in a country where extreme poverty was once very rare. Women often bear the brunt of conflict: during periods of violence, female-headed households become very common. And because women often have difficulty getting well-paying work and are typically excluded from community decision-making, their families are particularly vulnerable.

But even small bouts of violence can have huge impacts on communities that are already struggling. For example, if farmers are worried about their crops being stolen, they won’t invest in planting. Women are particularly vulnerable in these kinds of conflicts, too, as they often become the targets of sexual violence while fetching water or working alone in the fields.

4. Inequality

There are many different types of inequality in the world, from economic to social inequalities like gender, caste systems, or tribal affiliations. But no matter the inequality, it generally means the same thing: unequal or no access to the resources needed to keep or lift a family out of poverty.

Sometimes inequalities are obvious, but in other situations, it can be subtle — for example, the voices of certain people or groups might not be heard in community meetings, meaning they don’t get a say in important decisions. Regardless, these inequalities mean that the people affected don’t have the tools they desperately need to get ahead, and for already vulnerable families, this can mean the difference between being poor or living in extreme poverty.

5. Poor education

Not every person without an education is living in extreme poverty. But most of the extremely poor don’t have an education. And why is that? There’s a lot of barriers stopping children from going to school. Many families can’t afford to send their children to school and need them to work. More still don’t see a benefit in educating girls. Education is often referred to as the great equalizer, and that’s because education can open the door to jobs and other resources and skills that a family needs to not just survive, but thrive. UNESCO estimates that 171 million people could be lifted out of extreme poverty if they left school with basic reading skills. And, with even more education, world poverty could be cut in half.

6. Climate change

You might be stunned to learn that the World Bank estimates that climate change has the power to push more than 100 million people into poverty over the next ten years. As it is, climate events like drought, flooding, and severe storms disproportionately impact communities already living in poverty. Why? Because many of the world’s poorest populations rely on farming or hunting and gathering to eat and earn a living. They often have only just enough food and assets to last through the next season, and not enough reserves to fall back on in the event of a poor harvest. So when natural disasters (including the widespread droughts caused by El Niño) leave millions of people without food, it pushes them further into poverty, and can make recovery even more difficult.

7. Lack of infrastructure

Imagine that you have to go to work, or to the store, but there are no roads to get you there. Or heavy rains have flooded your route and made it impassable. What would you do then? A lack of infrastructure — from roads, bridges, and wells to cables for light, cell phones, and internet — can isolate communities living in rural areas. Living “off the grid” means the inability to go to school, work, or market to buy and sell goods. Traveling farther distances to access basic services not only takes time, it costs money, keeping families in poverty. Isolation limits opportunity, and without opportunity, many find it difficult, if not impossible, to escape extreme poverty.

8. Limited capacity of the government

Many people living in the United States are familiar with social welfare programs that people can access if they need healthcare or food assistance. But not every government can provide this type of help to its citizens — and without that safety net, there’s nothing to stop vulnerable families from backsliding further into extreme poverty if something goes wrong. Ineffective governments also contribute to several of the other causes of extreme poverty mentioned above, as they are unable to provide necessary infrastructure or ensure the safety and security of their citizens in the event of conflict.

9. Lack of reserves

People living in poverty don’t have the means to weather the storms of life. So when there is a drought, or conflict, or illness, there is little money saved or assets on hand to help. In Ethiopia for example, repeated cycles of drought have caused harvest after harvest to fail, causing a widespread hunger crisis. To cope, families will pull their children from school, and sell off everything they own to eat. That can help a family make it through one bad season, but not another. For communities constantly facing climate extremes or prolonged conflict, the repeated shocks can send a family reeling into extreme poverty and prevent them from ever recovering.


Ways of Removing Poverty in Bangladesh:

  • By achieving universal primary education
  • By promoting gender equality and empowering women
  • By removing unemployment problem
  • By improving maternal health
  • By eliminating corruption
  • By developing a global partnership
  • By ensuring increased local government participation to evaluate and eradicate poverty
  • By ensuring employment oriented technical education and changing in vocational training method
  • By increasing income tax by reducing VAT and ensure corruption free tax administration
  • By ensuring budget allocation considering regional socio-economic condition
  • By exporting manpower
  • By giving loans and technical education to the farmers


Criticisms of the Concept of Poverty

Absolute poverty is difficult to measure because there is no universally agreed concept of ‘needs’, and the same criticisms can be applied to relative poverty – if we are to base the definition of this on not having certain items, then it is impossible to escape subjective interpretations of what the cluster of ‘necessary items’ should be.

The concept of relative poverty has also been criticised as only actually measuring inequality, rather than poverty, so the concept lacks clear meaning – – at least the concept of ‘absolute poverty’ helps us to identify people in real need, whereas it is not necessarily possible to say this about someone who is in ‘relative poverty’ when they level of it keeps rising with increasing standards of living.

Focusing on relative poverty detracts attention away from those in absolute poverty.

Some sociologists have moved away from the concept of poverty in favour of ‘social exclusion’ which focuses instead on the processes which deny poorer people access to certain citizenship rights.