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What is poverty?
Poverty is a denial or choices and opportunities. A violation of human dignity. It mean lack or basic capacity to participate effectively in society it means not havening enough to feel and clothe , a family not having enough money to send their child to school of not being able to pay for medications for an illness. In some counter, it means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion or individual household, and communities, it means constitution to violence, and it often implies living on marginal and fragile environment without access to enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is more, much more than just not having enough money. Sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having a job,
In addition to a lack of money, poverty is about not being able to participate in activities; not being able to send children on a day trip with their schoolmates or to a birthday party; these are all costs of being poor. Those people who are barely able to pay for food and shelter simply can’t consider these other expenses. When people are excluded within a society, when they are not well educated and when they have a higher incidence of illness, there are negative consequences for society. We all pay the price for poverty. The increased cost on the health system, the justice system and other systems that provide supports to those living in poverty has an impact on our economy
Poverty is not only about shortage of money. It is about right and relationship; about how people are treated and how they regard themselves and their children; about powerlessness, exclusion and loss of dignity. Yet the lack of an adequate income in at its heart.(British government of all political persuasions have refused to define and official’ poverty line; as a consequence, there is no official yardstick for measuring the rise or fall in poverty under different government. This said, we can identify three broad approaches to defining poverty.
Poverty among children in Britain are more common then among adult of work age and more surprisingly. More common then among pensioners that extent, child poverty in Britain, there are 4 million children living in poverty in the UK, The proportion of children living in poverty grew from 1 in 10 in 1979 to 1 in 3 in 1998. Today, 30 per cent of children in Britain are living in poverty., Since 1999, when the current Government pledged to end child poverty, 500,000 children have been lifted out of poverty.; The UK has one of the worst rates of child poverty in the industrialised world The majority (59 per cent) of poor children live in a household where at least one adult works, 40 per cent of poor children live in a household headed by a lone parent. The majority of poor children (57 per cent) live in a household headed by a couple.38% of children in poverty are from families with 3 or more children., Child poverty reduces the quality of childhoods and damages children’s Ability to fulfil their potential. Poverty not only blights valuable and Vulnerable young lives in a way that is likely to generate long-term Problems for them as young people, adults and parents, but social failure Generates costs that attack the heart of our society. Research on the Impact of poverty abounds. While growing up in poverty does not mean abed outcome for all children, the cards are heavily stacked against them. The injustices poverty generates are many.
What causes poverty?
The main cause of poverty is insufficient income, arising from wordlessness, Unemployment, low wages and the low level of benefits.
Unemployment; In the 3 months to March 2009 statistics show unemployment averaging 7.3% of adults of working age. The recession has led to a rapid increase in unemployment and this is expected to rise further. Figures from National Statistics are to May 2009 the risk of not being in work is higher for those with low skills, from certain minority ethnic groups, and for those living in low employment areas. Other barriers to work include caring responsibilities and discrimination.
Low wages; Paid work is not, on its own, a guarantee of being free of poverty. In 2007/08, 59% of income-poor children were in households where one or more parent was in work. Low wages, part-time work and not having two adults in work in a couple household all increase the risk of poverty
Insufficient benefits; Benefits and tax credits are too low to protect families with children from poverty. Their value remains significantly below the poverty line
In other African counties like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, poverty is cause by different factors; such as
Violent conflict ;is also a powerful cause of poverty in counties like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and finding just and lasting resolutions to conflict are an important way in contributing to the ending of poverty
Overpopulation; the situation of having large numbers of people with too few resources and too little space, is closely associated with poverty
Illiteracy and lack of education; are common in poor countries. environmental — the character of the natural environment, including the atmosphere, bodies of water, soil, and forests — is an important cause of poverty. Environmental problems have led to shortages of food, clean water, materials for shelter, and other essential resources. As forests, land, air, and water are degraded, people who live directly off these natural resources suffer most from the effects.
The impact of poverty
Poverty makes people’s lives shorter and more brutal than they need to be. Poverty is not simply about being on a low income and going without – it is also about being denied power, respect, good health, education and housing, basic self-esteem and the ability to participate in social activities. ; Poverty has costs to society as well as the individual. By limiting children’s educational attainment it reduces the skills available to employers, and impedes economic growth. For example a study by the (Joseph Rowntree) Foundation found that child poverty costs Britain at least £25 billion a year.
Impact on education
On average poorer children score less well on a range of educational measures such as reading tests and GCSE results.
Pupils in England who score at or above level 2 for reading at Key Stage 1:
Poorest tenth of areas – 73% of pupils
Richest tenth – 93% of pupils.
Children who get 5 GCSEs at A*-C grade:
Children eligible for free school meals – 35.5%
Children not eligible for free school meals – 62.9%
Impact on health; Poverty is associated with a higher risk of both illness and premature death. Life expectancy at birth varies significantly according to social class, Poorer children on average experience poorer health during their childhoods and the effects of this last throughout their lives. Three year olds in households with incomes below about £10,000 are 2.5 times more likely to suffer chronic illness than children in households with incomes above £52,000.
Impact on social participation; Poverty isolates people, reducing their ability to engage in social and community life. In a study comparing the poorest and richest fifth of households, poorer children had fewer opportunities for activities and entertaining friends:
Housing; Bad housing has a massive impact on children’s lives, affecting everything from their health and educational achievement, to their emotional well-being and overall life chances:
Health: children living in cramped accommodation experience disturbed sleep, poor diet, higher rates of accidents and infectious disease
Education: children from homeless households are more likely to suffer from bullying, unhappiness and stigmatisation
Emotional well-being: about half of the families taking part in one study conducted by Shelter said their children were frightened, insecure, or worried about the future as a result of their homelessness
Life chances: The health and educational impact of poor housing may affect children’s future job prospects and financial well-being
Absolute poverty;
is standard of living base on a person’s biological needs for food, water, clothing and shelter. The emphasis is on basic physical need and not on broader social and cultural needs. Absolute poverty is when people fall below this level, when they cannot house, clothe of fee themselves
• relative The concept of relative poverty is that, in a rich country such as the UK, there are higher minimum standards below which no one should fall, and that these standards should rise if and as the country becomes richer.
www.poverty.org.uk
• Relative poverty levels within the EU
Sweden 2.4%
Germany 8.7%
Spain 12.4%
United Kingdom 16.2%
Sweden 2.4%
Germany 8.7%
Spain 12.4%
United Kingdom 16.2%
• Work
• 3½% of working-age adults living in rural areas were officially unemployed (400,000 people), while a further 4½% were economically inactive but wanted paid work (500,000 people). (2006 to 2008 average)
• 21% of employees (1.6 million people) were paid less than £7 per hour. In distribution, hotels and restaurants, more than half of employees were paid less than £7 per hour. (2008)
• Education
• Around two-fifths of pupils living in rural areas who were eligible for free school meals failed to achieve basic standards in literacy and numeracy at age 11. (2008)
• Almost a quarter of all boys living in rural districts eligible for free school meals did not obtain 5 or more GCSEs. (2007/08)
• 11% of adults aged 20 to retirement age (1.1 million people) living in rural areas had no educational qualifications.
• Health
7% of babies born to mothers living in rural areas were born with low birth weight (less than 2.5Kg) and 1 in 250 babies died before their first birthday. (2005 to 2007 average)
• Housing
• 27% of rural households lived in ‘non-decent’ homes, with this proportion rising to 42% in the most rural areas. (2004 to 2006 average)
• 22% of rural households lived in very energy inefficient homes, with this proportion rising to 51% in the most rural areas. (2004 to 2006 average)
• 11% of rural households were in ‘fuel poverty’, with this proportion rising to 22% in the most rural areas. (2004 to 2006 average)
• Services
• A third of rural households said that their local public transport needed improving. (2004/05)
• Community
A fifth of adults living in rural areas said that fear of crime had a substantial impact on their quality of life. (2005/06 to 2007/08 average)
Government action; The Government pledged to end child poverty in England by 2020, giving all children the solid start in life they deserve. In April 2004, a ban on the long-term use of bed and breakfast hotels for homeless families with children was introduced. In the same year, the Government published its Every Child Matters strategy with the aim that, whatever their circumstances, every child should have the support they need to: Be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution, Achieve economic well-being.
The Children’s Plan – building brighter future (2007)
“Poverty blights children’s lives, which is why we have committed to halve child poverty by 2010 and eradicate it by 2020. The new joint Department for Children, Schools and Families and Department for Work and Pensions Child Poverty Unit will coordinate work across government to break the cycle of poverty from generation to generation.
Poor housing is a particular problem for poor families and tackling it is important to meeting our 2020 goal and so we will:
• tackle overcrowding, publishing an action plan in 2008; and
• priorities children’s needs in housing decisions, especially the need to stay close to services like schools.”
“If we are to eradicate child poverty we need to break the cycle of poverty that passes from generation to generation by:
• tackling the causes of inequalities directly by reducing poverty among children today by lifting family incomes, supporting work and improving the conditions for family life; and
• improving the prospects for the most disadvantaged children by closing gaps in educational, health and other outcomes, thereby making it less likely that their children will live in poverty.”
The Children’s Plan 2007
The Effects
Poverty and Life ChancesPoverty shortens lives..
Poor children are born too small; birth weight is on average 130 grams lower in children from social classes IV and V. Low birth weight is closely associated with infant death and chronic diseases in later life.
Poverty shapes children's development. Before reaching his or her second birthday, a child from a poorer family is already more likely to show a lower level of attainment than a child from a better-off family. By the age of six a less able child from a rich family is likely to have overtaken an able child born into a poor family.
Children aged up to 14 from unskilled families are 5 times more likely to die in an accident than children from professional families, and 15 times more likely to die in a fire at home.
Children growing up in poverty are more likely to leave school at 16 with fewer qualifications.
2% of couples and 8% of lone parents cannot afford two pairs of shoes for each child.
12% of lone parents cannot afford celebrations with presents at special occasions. Mark Family and Children Study, 2004,
References
Poverty in the UK: a summary of facts and figures
Published by Child Poverty Action Group
94 White Lion Street
London N1 9PF
Why money matter; published by save the children 2008Published by Child Poverty Action Group
94 White Lion Street
London N1 9PF
Jason Stielitz Ruth Lister
http://www.poverty.org.uk
The World Bank Organization
www.dwp.gov.uk Child Poverty and Housing, End Child Poverty 2007
A staggering two million British children now have no parent in work and the number of children in families having to survive on benefits has jumped by 170,000 in just twelve months.
