2. Basics on global poverty (1)
• Roughly 1/3 of humanity live in material poverty
(”three worlds”). For some, poverty is bearable,
for some not
• Long-term concern of the international
community
• Definitions of poverty vary, as do ideas about
”extreme” or ”acute” poverty
• For example, is ”extreme” an acute or an
ongoing condition?
3. Basics on global poverty (2)
• Poverty is heavily concentrated in Africa, Asia
and South America, but poverty of citizens does
not equal poverty of a country
• Changing geography of global poverty: from
low to middle income countries
• Global goals of alleviating poverty: the MDGs.
Focus to poverty directly, not only economic
growth
• Change of societal conditions crucial:
urbanisation, resource depletion, climate
change, migration.
4. Definitions of poverty (1): Economic
* Global ”poverty line”
* Measures inflation & purchasing power -adjusted
income
* Defined at $1,25 a day and $2 a day
* Medians of national poverty lines of poor
countries
* Does not correspond to basic needs
* Public services, subsistence production etc not
calculated
5. Definitions of poverty (2): Ethical
* Poverty is an ethical problem, not a technical
notion of low purchading power
* Death: ”one tsunami every two weeks”
* Human rights: social and economic
* Human dignity, possibility to self-respect
* Capability: possibility to function in a ”truly
human” way
* Freedom: satisfaction of basic needs as a
prerequisite for freedom
* Utilitarian: avoiding unnecessary suffering
6. Definitions of poverty (3):
Multidimensional
* Meeting basic needs is relevant for capability,
freedom etc
* Economic measurements can be seen as
estimates of whether ethical concerns are met
→ Level of overlap? Reducability to economics?
→ Importance of context (need for money)
7. …continued
Problem of arbitrary poverty line
Perhaps poverty is a too complex phenomenon
to be measured by one quantitative measure
On the other hand, documentation and policy
relevance
8. Social human being
* Poverty lines: count only individually held value,
not social ties, which can be the most important
variable in one’s felt experience of deprivation
* The Kibera mystery
* The problem of the drunk
->People seem to often choose social ties over
individual well-being, even in acute situations
9. Trends in poverty (1)
* $1,25 (billions of people)
Year world world excl. China
1980 1,9 1,1
1990 1,9 1,2
2000 1,7 1,2
2010 1,3 1,1
Latin America: strong decrease in 2000->, SSA
strong increase, South Asia constant
10. Trends in poverty (2)
* $2 (billions of people)
Year world world excl. China
1980 2,5 1,6
1990 2,9 1,9
2000 2,9 2,1
2010 2,5 2,1
Latin America: decrease 2000->, South Asia
increase, SSA strong increase, North Africa
constant
11. Trends in poverty (3)
Poverty lines directly corresponding with basic
needs: we do not know for sure.
Hunger: (FAO)
*Decrease until 2007, after 2007 steady
*Energy intake -based estimate for chronic hunger
*SSA increase, Asia decrease, China fairly
constant
12. Trends in poverty (4)
The situation is better if we assess proportion of
global population rather than number of poor
→ Which is morally more accurate?
->Might give a misleading idea on global goals
