In common practice, a person who survives on less than $1 a day is included in the category of extremely poor. Based on the consumption of consumer durables, today’s poor American would have been considered as a middle-class American in the 60s.
Poverty is relative. The poor in advanced countries possess cars, cellphones, refrigerators and washing machines. But many people say if low-income groups own such consumer durables, they are not poor.
It’s time we changed the mindset that a poor can survive on $1 a day income. This definition would mean that over a billion people in the world live in extreme poverty.
In Russia, which has a cold climate, various coefficients is applied. There is a consensus that someone living on 25 rubles (1 USD = 31.1401 RUB, July 1) a day is poor and this group constitutes about 7 per cent of the population. Researchers apply different methods and criteria, suggesting different results. Even the Russian president had stated that 22 percent or 30 million people are poor in Russia. Three criteria are used in Russia to estimate the size of the middle class: Income and property, education and self-perception.
It is said, being rich is buying perceived happiness and being poor is making happiness happen. Similarly, some feel “being poor means you start at the bottom and work your way up; being rich means you start at the top and slide your way down”. John Scalzi says “Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends’ houses but never has friends’ over to yours”. Being poor means you can’t leave $5 on the coffee table when your friends are around.
The poverty rate is actually the average of the entire population. Unless we examine poverty levels for particular groups, it will be difficult to find out who, in particular, is well off, who is worse off. Feeling poor in the US may be different than living in poverty in Nepal. According to US Census Bureau, 12.5 per cent of the total US population (37.3 million people) was poor in 2007. Over the past 20 years, this number has varied from 11.3 per cent to 15.1 per cent of the population. Poverty is relative. The poor in advanced countries possess cars, cellphones, refrigerators and washing machines. But many people say if low-income groups own such consumer durables, they are not poor. In the US, poverty is defined as an annual income below $20,000 while in poor countries people with an annual income of less than $360 are considered poor. Some say, largely poverty is a human creation that did not have to happen.
In many European countries, the government sets a limit below which it offers grant assistance. In the US, the government grants food stamps. Efforts should be made to find out the human aspect of poverty by addressing harsh realities of daily life rather than making poverty a matter of definition.
In Latin America, out of a population of around 550 million, 220 million are poor and 100 million are extremely so, living on less than $1 per day. Relatively, the indigenous people have made significant progress during the last few decades but continue to suffer higher poverty, lower education and greater incidence of disease and discrimination than others, according to a World Bank study.
In China, population living below the poverty line declined from 65 per cent in 1981 to 4 per cent in 2007. Although China succeeded in reducing poverty in designated locations where large concentrations of chronically-poor people are found, still half the poor do not reside in officially-designated poor villages and hence are deprived of the benefits. The need is to go from poor areas to the poor people. Twenty-million migrant workers who lost their job during the recent crisis have not been able to send remittances to their families in the countryside. They stay in the urban centers by further adding to the problem of urban poverty. These are the people who expect to be covered by the urban safety nets. China still ranks just 81 in the UN Human Development Index. The HDI value is 0.777. There are 300 million poor in China, which is three times higher than the World Bank previously estimated.
The African continent is more or less on the same footing as Malaysia and South Korea were during the 1960s. South East Asia and some countries in South Asia are prospering but Africa has shrunk and Africans are getting poorer, living shorter and being excluded from mainstream development. The response on the level and extent of poverty in Africa can be found in Martin Meredith’s subtitle – From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair from his work on Africa.
Unless one determines a financially-acceptable level of human welfare, it is difficult to link poverty with common denominator of $1 a day criteria. Therefore, definition of poor has become a political football. The vulnerability in the US and China is something distinct with regards to present crisis and poverty. The American family with an annual income of $38,000 saved nothing but the families making $200 per person in China could save 18 per cent of their income. Looking at the size of GDP, economists believe China’s stimulus package of $586 billion should be much effective than Obama’s $787 billion project.
Being poor should be interpreted as being temporarily at a financial disadvantageous situation, which can be overcome. Being poor is not an excuse to become filthy. The poor can avoid living in dirty houses and wearing dirty clothes. If they like, they can get access to a public library, therefore, there should not be any romantic notion about being poor.
bishwambher@yahoo.com
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