3. Poverty definition and descriptions

3rd Lecture delivered under the course - Poverty and Environment taught at the Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

1. P.B. Dharmasena
0777 613234, 0717 613234
[email protected], [email protected]
https://independent.academia.edu/PunchiBandageDharmasena
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Punchi_Bandage_Dharmasena/contributions
http://www.slideshare.net/DharmasenaPb
Poverty and Environment
Course code: ECON/EMGT 4214
Friday from 8.30-11.30 a.m
Lesson 3 –Poverty: Definition and descriptions
P.B. Dharmasena
0777 613234, 0717 613234
[email protected], [email protected]
https://independent.academia.edu/PunchiBandageDharmasena
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Punchi_Bandage_Dharmasena/contributions
http://www.slideshare.net/DharmasenaPb

2. •Poverty is a condition
where people's basic needs
for food, clothing, and
shelter are not being met.
•Poverty is generally of
two types:
•Absolute poverty
and Relative poverty
Poverty: Definition and descriptons

3. Rural Development
Lesson 2:Rural Poverty
•Absolute poverty occurs when
people cannot obtain adequate
resources (measured in terms of
calories or nutrition) to support a
minimum level of physical health.
(same everywhere, and can be
eradicated as demonstrated by
some countries)
•Relative poverty occurs when
people do not have the minimum
level of living standards as
determined by a government.
(varies from country to country,
sometimes within the same
country)

4. 4
Absolute Poverty
1.The absence of enough
resources (such as money) to
secure basic life necessities.
2.A condition characterized by
severe deprivation of basic
human needs, including
adequate food, safe drinking
water, sanitation facilities,
health, shelter, education,
information, & access to
services.
3.Synonym for extreme poverty.

5. Absolute Poverty
The actual needs of the poor and not by comparing
the expenditure of those who are not poor

6. 6
Relative Poverty
Definition
Inequality between groups.
Proportion of household earning in
incomes < 1/2 the mean/median
income.
Measured; income disparity ratio of
income groups ethnic, urban & rural.
In this system, if everyone's real
income in an economy increases, but
the income distribution stays the same,
then the rate of relative poverty will
also stay the same.
Example; households with an accumulated
income < 50% of the median income are
living in poverty.

7. Relative Poverty

8. Global Prevalence of Poverty
•The World Bank estimates that702.1 million
people(9.6%) are living in extreme poverty in
2015, down from 1.75 billion (37.1%) in 1990.
•Of these702.1 million people, about 347.1 million
people (35.2%) live inSub-Saharan Africaand
231.3 million (13.5%) live inSouth Asia.
•UNICEFestimates half the world's children (or 1.1
billion) live in poverty.
•Another estimate places the true scale of poverty
much higher than the World Bank, with an
estimated 4.3 billion people (59 %) living with less
than $5 a day and unable to meet basic needs
adequately.

9. Different definitions of Poverty

10. Different definitions of Poverty

11. Different definitions of Poverty

12. Different definitions of Poverty

13. 13
Comparing Kinds of Poverty
•Relative vs. Absolute
•Objective vs. Subjective
•Urban vs. Rural
•Internal (personal) vs.
External (systemic) Causes
•Short-term vs. Long-term
•Clustered (wide-spread)
vs. Isolated
•Human Poverty

14. Absolute vs. Relative Poverty
Relative
•Comparative
•Perceived (apparent)
deficits
•Primarily emotional
consequences
Absolute
•Absolute
•Actual deficits
•Primarily physical
consequences
14

16. Absolute Poverty ……………………..

18. Objective vs. Subjective Poverty
•Asking people to report
whether their income is
sufficient; what level of
income would be
adequate to make ends
meet or to identify
themselves as poor.
•The percentage of
people whose income is
below a poverty line.
•The critical threshold of
income, consumption
or more generally
access to goods and
services below which
individuals can not
fulfill basic needs.

19. Objective vs. Subjective Poverty

20. Subjective Poverty

22. Human Poverty
22
Deprivationof
essentialcapabilities
suchas a longand
healthylife,
knowledge, economic
resourcesand
community
participation.

23. The Feminisation of Poverty
•In most countries poverty has a
female face: about 70 percent of
the 1.2 billionpeople living in
poverty are female.
•In many countries, the number of
women inpoverty has risen
significantly over that of men over
the last two decades.
•Womenare twice as likely as men
to be illiterate andsignificantly
more likely to suffer from poverty
relatedhealth conditions such as
iron deficiencyanaemiaand
protein-energymalnutrition.

24. The Elderly: A Traditionally Vulnerable Population
•Maintaining a viable income in the later years of life is an
issue with which manystruggle.
•In many developing countries, retirement is a luxury that few
can afford.
•Approximately 40 percent of individuals over 64 years in
Africa and 25 percent inAsia are still in the workforce,
employed mostly in agriculture.

25. 25
Child Poverty –Sri Lanka
•Child Population( below 19 yrs.): approx. 7.2 mn(36.3%)
•Child Population 0-5 years: approx. 1.7 mn.
•Children attending pre-schools: around 80%
•Completion % of primary schools: over 95% (both boys and girls)

26. 26
Child Poverty –Sri Lanka
•Secondary enrolment % is 82.6 %
•Disabled children 0 -19 yrs –55,500 (2001)
•Infant mortality rate 11.7 per 1000 live-births
•Under 5 mortality rate 13 per 1000 live-births

27. 27
Child Poverty –Sri Lanka
•Under-nutrition of children varies from 19-29% for
wasting, stunting and underweight
•Immunization rate 96.5
•Maternal mortality rate –18 per 100,000 live-births

28. 28
Child Poverty –Sri Lanka
•Internally displaced children living with parents with friends & family
(43,689 families) and in temporary shelter (7,800 families) (UNHCR
2008)
Children in voluntary homes (22,000 children)
Childdomestic labour–Approx. 25,500 children between 5-14 years
engaged in economic activity (ad hoc studies)
Street Children about 10,000

29. POVERTY AND HEALTH
Poverty and ill-health: the vicious circle
Caused by;
Lack of income & knowledge,
Poverty in community-social norms, weak
institutions and infrastructure, bad
environment;
Poor health provision-inaccessible, lack of key
inputs, irrelevant services, low quality;
Excluded from health finance system-limited
insurance, co-payments
Characteristicsof the poor
Inadequate service utilization,
unhealthy sanitary, dietary
practice etc.
Poor health outcomes
Ill health
Malnutrition
High fertility
Diminished income
Loss of wages
Costs of health care
Greater vulnerability to
catastrophic (disastrous)
illness

30. •Most of the illnesses associated with poverty areinfectious
diseases, such as diarrheal illness,malaria, and tuberculosis.
•All of them are associated with the lack ofincome, clean water
and sanitation, food, andaccess to medical services and
education which are characteristics of poor countries and
communities.

31. •The diseases are linked to under-nutrition andchildren are most
susceptible to them .
•The environmental, social, and dietary changesproduced by
industrialization and urbanizationare leading to higher rates of
diabetes,hypertension, heart disease, and respiratoryillness
among both the urban poor and not sopoor.

32. •Poor countries and poor
people suffer from multiple
deprivations that translate
into high levels of ill health
and disability.
•Poverty is an absolute
barrier to good health. It
impacts health by
influencing all other factors
adversely.

33. •The poor are more vulnerable to disease owing to, their lack
of access to promotive, preventive and curative health care,
nutritious food and financial resources.
•In addition, poor people are also more vulnerableto
environmental threats to health, such aspolluted air and water,
which undermine thequality of their lives.

34. •Preventable and treatable diseases
therefore takean enormous toll on
the poorest people.
•Primarily in developing countries,
people diefromeightvaccine-
preventablediseases.

35. •An estimated 1.7 million people in developingcountries die
annually from diseases linked tounsafe water and sanitation
and poor hygiene.
•The vicious cycle of ill health has a greaterimpact where poor
people are generally notcovered by adequate health insurance

36. PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGICAL POVERTY

37. Discussion points ahead
•Poverty and inequity
•Poverty and vulnerability
•Poverty and exclusion
•Poverty and under-development
•Indication of poverty –head count ratio,
poverty line, deprivation indicators

38. Equal opportunities

40. Poverty and Exclusion

41. Poverty and Under-development
Multi groups

42. Deprivation cannot simply be addressed by addressing poverty
Egalitarian -classless

43. Indication of Poverty

44. Poverty Headcount Ratio at
the DS Level, Sri Lanka -2005
TheHead count ratio(HCR) is the
proportion of a population that exists,
or lives, below the 'povertyline'.
Thepoverty threshold,povertylimit
orpoverty lineis the minimumlevelof
income deemed adequate in a particular
area.

45. Poverty Line
Parity -equality

46. Poverty line in Districts of Sri Lanka –July 2016
District
National Colombo Gampaha Kaluthara Kandy Matale Nuwara
Eliya
Galle Mathara Hambantota Jaffna Mannar Vavuniya Mullaithivu Kilinochchi Batticaloa Amprara Trincomalee Kurunegala Puttalam Anuradhapura Polonnaruwa Badulla Monaragala Rathnapura Keggalle
2016 Jul Rs.
4132 4295 4290 4183 4125 4150 4168 3994 3969 3806 4074 4268 4223 4087 4189 4183 4100 4132 3992 4128 3909 4075 3961 3755 4015 4172
Minimum Expenditure per person per month to fulfill the basic needs

47. Poverty line in Districts of Sri Lanka –January 2018
District
National Colombo Gampaha Kaluthara Kandy Matale Nuwara
Eliya
Galle Matara Hambantota Jaffna Mannar Vavuniya Mullaithivu Kilinochchi Batticaloa Amprara Trincomalee Kurunegala Puttalam Anuradhapura Polonnaruwa Badulla Monaragala Rathnapura Keggalle
2016 Jul Rs.
4580 4972 4821 4797 4745 4660 4872 4523 4377 4394 4477 4575 4488 4445 4396 4666 4581 4537 4512 4471 4421 4597 4488 4313 4543 4764
Minimum Expenditure per person per month to fulfill the basic needs

48. Estimated Distribution of the
Poor, Sri Lanka -2005

49. Estimates of Poverty Headcount Ratio by District, Sri Lanka
Province District 1990/91 1995/96 2002
(%) (%) (%)
______________________________________________________________________
Western Colombo 16 12 6
Gampaha 15 14 11
Kalutara 32 29 20
Central Kandy 36 37 25
Matale 29 42 30
NuwaraEliya20 32 23
Southern Galle 30 32 26
Matara 29 35 27
Hambantota 32 31 32
North Western Kurunegala 27 26 25
Puttalam 22 31 31
North Central Anuradhapura 24 27 20
Polonnaruwa24 20 24
Uva Badulla 31 41 37
Monaragala 34 56 37
SabaragamuwaRatnapura 31 46 34
Kegalle 31 36 32

50. Accessibility Index,
Sri Lanka
The accessibility index is calculated
for every point as the sum of the
population of surrounding cities and
towns, inversely weighted by the
travel time on the road network to
each town.

51. Poverty
Accessibility

52. Deprivation

54. Poverty should be eradicated, but how?