What Is Poverty?

Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and
shelter. 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.

The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way:

“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a
doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not
having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time”.

Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in
many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to
action -- for the poor and the wealthy alike - a call to change the world so that many more may
have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence,
and a voice in what happens in their communities.”

Characteristics of Poverty:
The World Bank defined some characteristics of poverty, such as: hunger, lack of shelter, being
sick and unable to visit a doctor, unable to go to school, illiterate, jobless, fear for the future,
losing a child due to illness brought about by unclean water, powerless, as well as lack of
representation and freedom. Based on information about basic needs collected from 15 low-
income countries, the World Bank defines the extreme poor as those living on less than $1.90 a
day. However, because more people in poverty live in middle-income, rather than low-income,
countries today, higher poverty lines have been introduced.

Who are the poor?

The poor are a social group whose dimension depends on overall per-capita GDP but, even more,
by inequality in income distribution. There are several levels of absolute poverty between
extreme poverty, at the one end, and normality, at the other.

The world’s absolute poor often live in rural areas, and often earn an income in agriculture. Rural
households are more likely to be poorer than urban households

A. Poor or destitute
People in this group tend to be the elderly, especially widows with no assets. They also include
the disabled, who are usually not empowered to come into public. They fall into the category of
the absolute and chronically Poor. They are also dependents because of some adverse health
conditions that do not allow them to help themselves.

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B. Dependents
Poor households have more members, living together in single rooms or small houses, a greater
share of dependents (non-working age), less education, less land, and less access to running
water and electricity. Poor households have significantly fewer years of education whether one
looks at the household-level average or at the years of schooling of household heads.

C. Economically poor
People in this group move in and out of poverty, usually vulnerable to spells of personal shocks
such as illness, family deaths, or job losses. General shocks such as floods, fires, droughts,
conflicts or earthquakes can also cause this kind of poverty. People in this group tend to be in
their working life, but largely live in rural areas, working on small subsistence farms. About 60%
of Africans who are poor tend to be in this group. They usually lack assets and access to services
that can enhance their economic development. Households with many children or dependents
also tend to be poor.

Where are the poor?

Sub Saharan Africa, South Asia and Latin America have been known to have large areas of
chronic poverty. In the last decade, joint efforts by governments, authorized organizations and
charity groups have improved the situation for many, but there is still a lot of poverty in these
areas.The world’s absolute poor often live in rural areas, and often earn an income in agriculture.
Rural households are more likely to be poorer than urban households

Types of Poverty:
On the basis of social, economical and political aspects, there are different ways to identify the
type of Poverty:
1. Absolute poverty
2. Relative Poverty
3. Situational Poverty
4. Generational Poverty
5. Rural Poverty
6. Urban Poverty

1. Absolute Poverty:
It is the extreme kind of poverty involving the chronic lack of basic food, clean water, health and
housing. People in absolute poverty tend to struggle to live and experience a lot of child deaths
from preventable diseases like malaria, cholera and water-contamination related diseases. This
type is usually long-term in nature, and often handed to them by generations before them. This
kind of poverty is usually not common in the developed world.

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2. Relative Poverty:
This kind is usually in relation to other members and families in the society. For example, a
family can be considered poor if it cannot afford vacations, or cannot buy presents for children at
Christmas, or cannot send its young to the university. Even though they have access to
government support for food, water, medicine and free housing, they are considered poor
because the rest of the community have access to superior services and amenities.

3. Situational Poverty (Transitory):

People or families can be poor because of some adversities like earthquakes, floods or a serious
illness. Sometimes, people can help themselves out of this situation quickly if they are given a bit
of assistance, as the cause of their situations was just one unfortunate event.

4. Generational or Chronic Poverty:

This is a more complicated type and we will see a detailed example here. This is when poverty is
handed over to individuals and families from generations before them. In this type, there is
usually no escape from it, as people are trapped in its causes and have no access to tools that will
help them get out of it.

5. 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.

6. 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.

Poverty line:
A critical threshold of income, consumption or more generally access to goods and services
below which individuals are declared to be poor. A minimum level of “acceptable” economic
participation in a given society at a given point of time.

Those with incomes or expenditures equal to or above the line are not poor.
A person is considered poor if his or her income or consumption level falls below a given
“minimum level” necessary to fulfill basic needs. What is necessary to satisfy basic needs is
different at different times and in different countries. Therefore, poverty line may vary with time
and place.

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The poverty threshold or poverty line is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a
given country. In practice, like the definition of poverty, the official or common understanding of
the poverty line is significantly higher in developed countries than in developing countries. The
common international poverty line has in the past been roughly $1 a day. In 2008, the World
Bank came out with a revised figure of $1.25 at 2005 purchasing-power parity (PPP).

Dimensions of Poverty:
There are many dimensions of poverty, they are -
Income
Gender
Race
Ethnicity
Nutrition

Causes of High Poverty Rate in Bangladesh:

The Daily Star, (2006) identified some causes of high poverty rates in Bangladesh:

Overpopulation:
Overpopulation is defined as the situation of having large numbers of people with too few
resources and too little space. Poverty can also depend on the country's mix of population density
and agriculture productivity.

High birth rates: High birth rates contribute to overpopulation in many developing countries.
Children are assets to many poor families because they provide labor, usually for farming.
Cultural norms in traditionally rural societies commonly sanction the value of large families.

Illiteracy and lack of Education: Illiteracy and lack of education is common feature of our
rural area. Most of the rural people are unable to read and write as a result they are not conscious
about modern technology which is very necessary for more production in agriculture.

Sessional Unemployment: Periodic unemployment created by seasonal variations in particular

farming which are affected by the weather. As a result the rural people have no work in half of
the year like Monga area people of Bangladesh.

Low Wage: In the rural area comparatively the rate of wage is low than urban. A labor can earn
about 2000-3000 per month which is not sufficient for a rural family. At present price hike is a
serious problem and the rural poor are the victims.

Natural Disaster: Natural disaster is the common picture of our country. Every year our country
is affected by the natural disaster. The rural farmers are more affected by the natural disaster like
river erosion, cyclone, tidal surge, excessive rain and others.

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Dowry: Dowry is a social problem and it is severe in rural area. Especially among the rural poor
it is curse. Due to dowry process sometime it needs to sell the property as a result they lost their
source of income

Death of Chief Wage-earner: Most of the families are one man dependent or wage earner
becomes single so when he/she died the family face severe economic problem and at last fall into
poverty.

Largeness of Family: Though birth rate is high in rural area than urban so the size of family is
large in rural area. Through the sufficient income it is quit impossible to lead a family with 6-7
members. It is one of the major causes of rural poverty.

Lack of Land: In our country about 20% people are the owner of 80% land and 80% people
hold only 20% land. Most of the poor have no personal land. They cultivate others land with
share but they are deprived from their part of profit. Price Rise of Agricultural Instruments: The
continuous and steep price rise of agricultural instruments has added to the miseries of poor.

Low Productivity in Agriculture: The level of productivity in agriculture is low due to

subdivided and fragmented holdings, lack of capital, use of traditional methods of cultivation,
illiteracy etc in our country.

Shortage of Capital and able Entrepreneurship: Capital and able entrepreneurship have
important role in accelerating the growth. But these are in short supply making it difficult to
increase production significantly in our rural area as a results they are unable to produce good
production in agriculture.

Debt: Debt is curse for rural poor people because they take debt from rural Mahajon or rich
person with high interest. When they are unable to pay the debt, the interest of it rises day by day
and at a time the amount become double or more and as result they are bound to sell their
property.

Impact of Poverty:
Poverty brings about a myriad of complications. The effects usually depend on the kind of
poverty in question.

 Hunger, Health and Deaths

Absolute poverty results in extreme hunger, starvation and malnutrition. People (and children)
become vulnerable to preventable diseases such as cholera, dysentery and tuberculosis, with no
access to health services and medications. Death rates rise. Relative poverty on the other hand,
forces people to engage in behaviors that expose them to diseases such as HIV Aids. Whiles they
may not starve to death, they may be living on unhealthy foods, which ultimately weaken their
immunity and expose them to diseases.

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 Social and Political
Relative poverty may cause people to indulge in social vices such as drugs, prostitution and petty
crimes as a means to meet their immediate needs. In many developing countries, political leaders
and rebel leaders take advantage and recruit young people, (especially that in relative poverty) to
fight for their interests, in return for food and basic needs. These young folks feel vulnerable if
they do not comply, as they have no other way out of their situation.

 Economic
People in absolute poverty simply cannot afford food, water and shelter. They are not healthy
enough to undertake any economic activity. They cannot send their young to school and the
youth cannot get any skills. This results in economic breakdown of the community, which
directly affects the larger region where they are. Further to that, those in relative poverty, who
have a bit of training or education, are forced to move out (migrate) in search of better lives in
the cities. This deprives the rural areas of the man-power and makes their situation worse. As
they migrate into the cities, they end up in slums, increase populations and put pressure on
amenities in the cities.

 Shelter, safe water & health

For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are:
A. 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3)
B. 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5)
C. 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)
—Source: State of the World’s Children, 2005, UNICEF

Poverty Reduction Strategies :

–Increasing the supply of basic needs
– Controlling overpopulation
–Ensuring resources for poor
– Employment generation
– Empowering women
–Increasing production rate
– Political stability
–Improving education opportunities
–Minimizing social discrimination
–Promoting Technology
–Eliminating corruption
–Development of Economic System
–Development of agricultural land
–Equal access over markets
–Improving health facilities for poor

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The Vicious Cycle of Poverty:
This is a phenomenon used often by economic scientists. It simply means poverty begets
poverty. It is a concept that illustrates how poverty causes poverty and traps people in poverty
unless an external intervention is applied to break the cycle.

Let’s look at this scenario with a family in absolute poverty.

A very poor family with children have very little to eat, and have no access to health facilities.
As a result, the children are malnourished and unhealthy and have many health complications.
They are therefore unable to go to school (even if there is a school in the next village). They
grow up with no education or skill and cannot do any economic activity. Their parent die from
preventable diseases as a result of the lack of health facilities, and their fate is in their hands. As
the children turn adults, they find wives who are just on the same level of poverty as them, and
they have their own children. They hand over this condition to their children, who will also grow
up in similar conditions.

It takes an intervention from governments, charity organizations or family members who are
better off to step in and provide some kind of assistance (health, feeding, shelter and basic
education) to get the youth to do some kind of economic activity to bring in some income.
Without that, this cycle will continue for generations and it’s a trap that is extremely difficult to
get out of.

This concept can also be applied to countries and larger economies, although the dynamics may
be slightly different.

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Role of NGOs in Poverty Alleviation:
 Youth development
1. Skill development programs for youth
2. Self-employment for the unemployed youth
3. Involvement of youth organizations in community development activities
4 Participation of youth in population control and welfare activities
5. Supply of equipment to trained youth for self-employment etc.

 Agricultural Development
1. Production and productivity of agricultural sector through crop diversification including
livestock, fisheries and poultry
2. Farmer’s access to better technology
3. Crop yields by shifting from local varieties to High Yielding Varieties and hybrid varieties
4. Small and marginal farmer’s development for higher productive intensity

 Social service
1. Shelter, education and food to the helpless orphans
2. Health services to helpless elderly poor
3. Training and rehabilitation for the distressed, vagrants and homeless
4. Training and rehabilitation for handicapped and distressed poor women
5. Credit to the poor asset less, unemployed and the landless families etc.

 Women Development
1. development of women entrepreneurship
2. credit payment among women
3 strengthening of policy leadership
4. poverty alleviation for women
5. development of asset less women
6. advocacy for gender equity etc.

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Conclusion:
The eradication of poverty and inequality and meeting of basic needs are the primary goals of
the government. The present government of Bangladesh is very much hopeful in achieving the
target of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the targets of Vision-2021
related to poverty and inequality. Although Bangladesh has achieved progress in poverty
reduction, there is widespread poverty at the national and regional levels and there are
variations in poverty levels between rural and urban Bangladesh.So,NGOs and other welfare
organizations must come beside the government to reduce both rural and urban poverty from
the country finding out sources of foreign grants and aid as well as multidisciplinary action
planning.

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