Children who are so malnourished that their bone structure, something that should be seen in an X-ray, is now visible to the naked eye, your eyes. Dark, penetrating eyes screaming, “I have hope, help me!” One gets this typical picture when imagining extreme poverty. However, we rarely think of the young woman who lives in the apartment next door, we do not realize that she works all day to provide for her child and yet she struggles month after month to make ends meet. She made one mistake in her youth and now she walks around carrying the weight of her shattered dreams upon her shoulders. She only has a high school diploma and lacks the financial means and time to achieve a higher education; therefore, her chances of improving her lifestyle are highly limited. This is the emerging face of poverty, precisely the one we often fail to acknowledge. For instance, the poverty line for a family of three in the United States is $17,738 annually, meaning anyone whose income falls below that line is considered poor. The two most common poverty measures are absolute and relative measures. Absolute poverty is the minimum requirement necessary to afford the most rudimentary necessities such as food, clothing, and healthcare. In this approach, the poverty line remains constant. On the other hand, relative poverty takes into account the comparative economic status of a society. The malnourished child described above would live under absolute poverty while the young woman would be considered relatively poor. Despite the differences between absolute and relative poverty, they have one tremendous similarity: they are both considerably inefficient. In spite of inadequacy, the United States created the Quasi-Relative Poverty Measure. “The recommended measure is quasi-relative because the proposed update would be based on consumption expenditures for only basic categories of goods and services- food, clothing, and utilities- that would be expected to rise less rapidly than total consumption expenditures.” [1] All three systems have advantages and disadvantages but they are the only method we have for measuring poverty. There are several definitions of poverty. For example, “Galbraith’s The Affluent Society (1958) — poverty occurs when income falls markedly below that which the community considers necessary for decency, even if it is adequate for survival.” “Webster 1—having little or no money and few possessions, dependent on charity, lacking in financials or other resources, inadequate, inferior, undernourished.” Intellectuals have established the parameters of what poverty is; now it is imperative for our society to define what we can do to alleviate poverty.
Quick Fact:
Who you think is poor, both in the United States and globally. In the United States, any family of three whose income falls below $17, 738. In the developing world, any family who earns less than $1,095 to $2,190 annually.
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