Political Science

Poverty may be viewed as a situation in which some members of a society cannot afford their basic necessities including food, shelter, clothing, education, healthcare and opportunities to work. From this view-point, Africa and Asia are the most poverty-laden continents in the world as they are home to the largest proportions of people with no access to these basic necessities. The truth however, is that there are some very poor people in North America and Europe which have the largest economies. The definition of poverty may however be extended to comparisons between what an individual member of a society earns compared to other members of the society. This is because living standards change with societies, meaning that poverty lines are also applicable to societies. Poverty affects every part of the world and no country can reasonably claim to have subdued poverty completely.

The most common measure of poverty entails the use of an individual s or country s income or consumption. According to the World Bank, individuals are said to be living in poverty if they are earning less than US 1 per day. These people, wherever they live in the world, are noted for their inability to afford their basic necessities.

Income, consumption and the poverty line are not enough to explain the poverty situation of a people. The use of income to measure poverty implies that all a society needs to get out of poverty is to help the poor to rise above the poverty line. The poverty line misleads some people to believe that governments can eradicate or reduce poverty significantly in their countries by using income transfers to their citizenry. This is rather untrue because poverty is not only about income and consumption.  It encompasses other facets including social exclusion and capability deprivation which also affect the poor. Relying on only the income to measure poverty thus ignores these important elements, rendering the measure insufficient. Poverty cannot be possibly eliminated unless social exclusion and capability deprivation are dealt with effectively through targeted actions and policies.

Measures of poverty which lean heavily on income also have other shortcomings. Some people, though earning enough to live above the poverty line, lack  education, training, and family support systems to provide a stable economic future for their children. It is not difficult to observe that though not classified as poor officially, such people, and their children are very vulnerable. This goes to enforce the arguments that using income and consumption to measure poverty can often lead to misleading findings, and income transfers alone would fall short of eradicating poverty in whichever the country. Any government serious on making significant reductions on poverty must give serious thought to the provision of unbiased and quality education, health services, financial training, and enforcement of labour laws particularly to companies employing unskilled or low-skilled labourers who are more vulnerable to abuse at work.