What is poverty?
By: Emily Yoder
Definition of the word “poverty”

the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of
support; condition of being poor

deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities, etc.

scantiness; insufficiency

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/poverty)
What is poverty?

World Bank Organization:

“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.”

"What Is Poverty?" Government of New Brunswick, Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.
<http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/esic/overview/content/what_is_poverty.html>.
Official Definition of Poverty

1974- Mollie Orshansky, a government economist, defined poverty line:

“Cost of a minimum nutritious diet for a typical family of four and the proportion
of income that the family spent on food and multiplying the price of the food
budget by 3 to allow for nonfood cost” (p. 219)

A ‘poverty line’ for a family of four was $3,000 annual income in 1974

By 2008, the poverty line for a family of four was $22,000 annual income
Evolving Poverty Line Definition

Poverty line is annually adjusted for increasing prices but not for changing
lifestyles

Majority of cross-national studies define the poverty threshold as one-half of
the average family’s income.

Official U.S. poverty line was 50% this level in 1963 when first employed

But 28% of this level in 2000
How many poor?

Between 37 and 65 million Americans were poor according to 2007 estimates.
Who is at risk?
Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. 8th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2011. 216-39. Print.
Distribution of Poverty, 2008
Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. 8th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2011. 216-39. Print.
Percent of Americans in poverty
Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. 8th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2011. 216-39. Print.
Relative
poverty rates
in 21 rich
nations
Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. 8th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2011. 216-39. Print.
Identifying Poverty as a Social Problem

FDR administration

First time the government took responsibility
for helping in cases of economic crises.

Direct relief

Job relief

Kennedy & Johnson administrations

“entitlement programs”



Food stamps

program for families with low incomes

reduced malnutrition and helped farmers
Medicare
Social Security Act of 1935


Unemployment insurance

Pensions

Medicaid


health insurance for the elderly
providing health insurance for the poor
Johnson’s “War on Poverty”
Conclusion

Poverty is not having enough…

To sustain life

To have a good quality of life

“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.”

-World Bank Organization