Poverty

Poverty is the state of being without the necessities of daily living, often associated with need, hardship and lack of resources across a wide range of circumstances. For some, poverty is a subjective and comparative term; for others, it is moral and evaluative; and for others, scientifically established. The principal uses of the term include:

World poverty

The Copenhagen Declaration describes absolute poverty as "a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information." The World Bank identifies "extreme poverty" as being people who live on less than USD $1 a day, and "poverty" as less than $2 a day. On that standard, 21% of the world's population was in extreme poverty, and more than half the world's population were poor in 2001. http://www.developmentgoals.org/Poverty.htm#percapita

Related Topics:
World Bank - USD

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The World Bank states that in 2001 worldwide about 1.1 billion humans (which is 21% of the worldpopulation) had less than $1 in local purchasing power per day. (In comparison: 1981 there were 1.5 billion humans, which made up 40% of the worldpopulation; in 1987 1.227 billion humans equaling 30%; 1993 1.314 billion humans equaling 29% of the worldpopulation).

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The Borgen Project points out that while U.S. leaders give $230 billion a year to military contractors, only $19 billion a year is needed to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals http://www.borgenproject.org/Ending_poverty.html of ending severe poverty by 2025.

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Poverty may be seen as the collective condition of poor people, or of poor groups, and in this sense entire nation-states are sometimes regarded as poor. To avoid stigma these are usually called developing nations, but this too is considered derogatory by some.

Related Topics:
Nation-states - Developing nation - Derogatory

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Maps of world poverty can be found at povertymap.net. There is evidence of poverty in every region. In developed countries, this condition results in wandering homeless people and poor suburbs (with so-called bidonvilles or favelas) in which poor people are—more or less—restricted to a ghetto. See List of countries by poverty.

Related Topics:
Homeless - Bidonville - Favela - Ghetto - List of countries by poverty

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