The word poverty seems almost meaningless.
On a global scale we use the figure US$1.25 income per day to indicate someone in extreme poverty, or US$2 income per day to indicate someone in “run-of-the-mill” poverty (source).
You might ask “US$1.25 in Zambia can buy me a whole lot more than in the US”. It probably can – BUT these figures are adjusted for something called Purchasing Power Parity. This levels the playing field. Essentially; what you can buy in the US for $1.25 is what the people in Zambia can afford each day.
In the richer OECD countries we don’t use this measure. We talk in terms of relative poverty. Poverty is something that changes depending on how much stuff your neighbor has. If a class of people get richer, then the other class gets poorer – even though they have the same stuff as they had last year.
We have an expectation. Of living a certain way. Of having a certain amount of stuff.
To meet that expectation some of us will spend more than we earn. Building up debt to have things we really don’t need. When we can’t meet the debt — then we become the “new poor“.
For Example…
The KidsCan charity donates raincoats and shoes to poor (or “financially disadvantaged”) NZ kids. Kids in raincoats and shoes in a cold NZ winter is a good thing. A very good thing. A kids raincoat from department store The Warehouse is NZ$29.99. KidsCan have been the subject have a huge charity drive so that kind NZers can donate so more poor kids can have raincoats.
$29.99
Since kids don’t usually earn money, parents are responsible for clothing and feeding their kids. We’re talking fairly basic needs here.
In a very poor country the parent will generally choose between food and healthcare. Pretty basic stuff.
We tend to have a few more choices…
Numbers from the 2006 NZ census (Table 13) show that the number of without household access to telecommunication systems (mobile phone, telephone, Internet) was 0.02%.
I’ll leave it you to figure out what the cost per month might be of having just one of these services. Perhaps it’s something like NZ$30-60.
So, 99.98% of NZ households had access to this.
What else costs NZ$29.99?
- 2 1/2 weeks of access to Sky TV
- 1 CD
- 8 1/2 Espresso coffees
- 3 Packets of cigarettes
- 6 Lotto Lucky Dip tickets
- 3 Bottles of wine
We don’t have a poverty of money. We have a poverty of values. Could it be that by giving someone cash who made a poor choice – you are simply depriving them of the consequences of the poor choice? Will it help them to make a better choice next time? Probably not.
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[...] Varies depending on who you talk to. Within Western countries poverty generally refers to relative wealth or income. So if most of the population owns a Mercedes Benz, but you own a brown 1979 Datsun Sunny – you are poor. Global definitions of poverty are also typically economic but are absolute measures. The World Bank currently uses < US$1.25 daily income to indicate extreme poverty. [...]