Related topics: children · developing countries

Weight discrimination linked to views on poverty

A new study has discovered that people who believe individuals are to blame for living in poverty are more likely to oppose laws aimed at preventing weight discrimination—suggesting some UK adults think the two issues are ...

Scientists create high-resolution poverty maps using big data

A team of researchers from the Complexity Science Hub (CSH) and Central European University (CEU) created more-detailed poverty maps using computational tools that bring together survey information, and data and images provided ...

Shame, guilt won't sustain humanitarian aid

Recent major earthquakes in Turkey and Syria have prompted a surge of international support for those affected, but research from Flinders University has found what triggers people to keep providing support for those suffering ...

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Poverty

Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live in absolute poverty today. Relative poverty refers to lacking a usual or socially acceptable level of resources or income as compared with others within a society or country.

For most of history poverty had been mostly accepted as inevitable as traditional modes of production were insufficient to give an entire population a comfortable standard of living. After the industrial revolution, mass production in factories made wealth increasingly more inexpensive and accessible. Of more importance is the modernization of agriculture, such as fertilizers, in order to provide enough yield to feed the population.

The supply of basic needs can be restricted by constraints on government services such as corruption, debt and loan conditionalities and by the brain drain of health care and educational professionals. Strategies of increasing income to make basic needs more affordable typically include welfare, accommodating business regulations and providing financial services. Today, poverty reduction is a major goal and issue for many international organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank.

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