Poverty

Poverty is a situation where a person(s) does not can afford fundamental human needs like nutrition, clothes, shelter, as well as housing. Poverty is amongst the leading concerns that most people are facing on a global platform. A poverty line refers to the minimum level of income that is used as the approved standards for finding out the proportion of a given population that it living in poverty. It is the designated minimum income level that is required in order to sustain a specified living standard. According to the Census Bureau, the prevailing poverty line for an individual under 65 years in the U.S. is an annual income of $11,161 in case of a family of four members.

There are varied causes of poverty. They include; lack of appropriate education, corruption, weak economies. Poverty refers to a state of most people in the world, in addition to countries. There are approximately 3 billion people who live on less than $2.50 in a single day (World Bank). Approximately one billion children worldwide who are living in poverty, implying that they do not have access to adequate shelter, safe food, as well as health services.

Absolute poverty refers to that time when individuals may lack adequate funds to meet the fundamental threshold that is required for one to survive. There are many people who fall beyond this line as they cannot be able to afford food, clothes or shelter. On the other hand, relative poverty may be described as a situation where an individual is living in an expensive house, and has access to the basic needs, but lacks the capacity to purchase luxurious things, in comparison to the people who live within that geographical location. Such kind of an individual can still be referred to as poor. Relative poverty keeps changing more often as well as modifies itself to the changes that occur in the society. Absolute poverty, however, remains the same.

There are different social welfare programs as well as anti-poverty efforts that different governments have used during the previous decades in order to address poverty. They include provision of free education, contribution to social health funds, as well welfare funds that are supposed to help those who do not have employments or sources of income. Eradication of poverty is a necessary intervention to the developing nations. One of the approaches that may be utilized in the eradication of poverty is through the education of the masses, particularly the youth, who are a building block of the economy of any country. The government can encourage poor individuals, such as the youths, to set up small business through the awarding of loans which they can apply for and use it as capital.

The Census Bureau is responsible for computing the poverty level in U.S., and it uses several money income threshold that changes due to the size of a family, in addition to its composition, so as to make a determination about who is poor. In the case where a family’s total income is low than the family’s threshold, that family is then considered as being poor. The income that is used during the computation of poverty includes a family’s earning, compensations for unemployment, retirement income, rent et cetera. Poverty threshold refers to the money that is used in the determination of the status of poverty.

In conclusion, poverty is one of the problems that bother human beings in the present modern society. Despite the previous interventions to address the problem of poverty, the poverty levels are soaring up in most countries. This implies that the programs employed been ineffective, and organizations such as The World Bank ought to come up with a good intervention program that would address poverty efficiently.