POVERTY

Poverty is an economic condition of lacking both money and basic necessities needed to successfully live such as food, water, education, and shelter. There are many working definitions of "poverty" with considerable debate on how to best define the term: (1) income security; and (2) economic stability; and (3) the predictability of one's continued means to meet the basic needs all serve as absolute indicators of poverty. Poverty may therefore also be defined as the economic condition of lacking predictable and stable means of meeting basic life needs.

Causes of Poverty

1. education
2. war
3. natural disasters
4. political corruption
5. mental illness
6. disability

Those who live in conditions of poverty lack a wide range of economic and other resources and may be described as poor, in low income and impoverished. Some see the term as subjective and comparative, others see it as moral and evaluative, while others consider that it is scientifically established.

Poverty is understood in many senses. The main understandings of the term include:

• Description of material need, typically including the necessities of daily living (food, clothing, shelter, and health care). Poverty in this sense may be understood as the deprivation of essential goods and service.
• Descriptions of social need, including social exclusion, dependency, and the ability to participate in society. This would include education, and information. Social exclusion is usually distinguished from poverty, as it encompasses political and moral issues, and is not restricted to the sphere or economics.
• Describing a lack of sufficient income and wealth. The meaning of "sufficient" varies widely across the different political and economic parts of the world.

Measuring Poverty

Poverty may be seen as the collective condition of poor people, or of poor groups, and in the sense entire nation-states are sometime regarded as poor. To avoid stigma these nations are usually called develping nations.

Poverty may be measured as (1) absolute poverty (also known as Graham Parnaby Poor) or relative poverty. It refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the human body (approximately 2000-2500 kilocalories per day). Absolute poverty is a condition that applies to people with the lowest incomes, the least education, the lowest social status, the fewest opportunities, etc., (2) extreme poverty which is defined by World Bank as living on less than US$ (PPP) 1 per day, and (3) moderate poverty as less than $2 a day.

Factors that have been alleged to cause poverty:

1. Poor, failed, or absence of an infrastructure, lack of opportunities.
2. State discrimination and corruption. Abuse of public power.
3. Lack of social integration. Competition instead of cooperation.
4. Crime
5. Natural disasters
6. Substance abuse; such as alcoholism and drug abuse
7. Procrastination
8. Natural factors such as climate or environment
9. Historical factors, such as imperialism and colonialism
10. Overpopulation. Population growth slows or even become negative as poverty is reduced due to the demographic transition
11. War, i.e. civil war, genocide and democide
12. Lack of education
13. Lack of social skills
14. Matthew effect - the phenomenon, widely observed across advanced welfare states, that the middle classes tend to the main beneficiaries of social benefits and services, even if these are primarily targeted at the poor.
15. Cultural causes, which attribute poverty to common patterns of life, learned or shared within a community. Example, some have argued that Protestantism contributed to economic growth during the industrial revolution.
16. Individual beliefs, actions and choices.
17. Mental illness and disability, such as autism and schizophrenia
18. Excessive materialism
19. Lack of freedom
20. Poverty itself, preventing investment and development
21. Geographic factors, for example fertile land access to natural resources
22. Disease, specifically diseases of poverty: AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis and others overwhelmingly afflict the poor, which perpetuate poverty by diverting individual, community, and national health and economic resources from investment and productivity. Further, many tropical nations are affected by diseases like malaria and schistosomiasis that are not present in temperate climates.
23. Frequent bullying, prevents productivity and development
24. Inadequate nutrition in childhood in poor nations may lead to physical and mental stunning.
25. Inadequate tax systems
26. Age discrimination, gender discrimination, racial discrimination

Effects of Poverty

1. extreme hunger and starvation
2. disease and disabilities low health care services
3. high crime rate
4. increased suicides
5. increased risk of political violence, such as terrorism, war and genocide
6. homelessness
7. lack of opportunities for employment
8. loss of opportunities for employment
9. more susceptible to death from natural resources
10. increased discrimination
11. lower life expectancy
12. drug abuse

Poverty Incidence in the Philippines

Poverty incidence in the country, which refers to the proportion of families with per capita income below the poverty threshold, was placed at 28.1 percent in 1997 and 28.4 percent in 2000 based on the new provincial poverty methodology recently approved by the NSCB Executive Board. Poverty estimates released by the NSCB also show that in 2000, 4.3 million families or 26.5 million Filipinos, more than one-third (34.0 percent) of the country’s population, were living below the poverty line. These figures indicate an increase over the 1997 levels of 4.0 million families or 24.0 million Filipinos striving to make ends meet. The 2003 poverty statistics will be released by the NSCB after the NSO has finished processing the 2003 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) results.

The annual per capita poverty threshold, or the amount required to satisfy food and non-food basic needs at the national level, reached P11,605 in 2000, 17.9 percent higher than the 1997 threshold of P9,843. Thus, a family of five members should have a monthly income of at least P4,835 to meet their food and non-food basic needs.

Among the 77 provinces of the country and the four districts of Metro Manila, Sulu consistently posted the highest poverty incidence in 1997 and 2000 with 67.1 and 63.2 percent, respectively. Also included among the poorest provinces are Masbate, Tawi-Tawi, Ifugao and Romblon. Four provinces of ARMM are among the 10 poorest provinces in the country.

Table- Ten Poorest Provinces in 2000

Province	1997	2000	Inc/Dec (%)	Rank ‘97	Rank ‘00
Sulu	67.1	63.2	-3.9	1	1
Masbate	61.4	62.8	1.4	2	2
Tawi-Tawi	35.0	56.5	21.5	40	3
Ifugao	57.7	55.6	-2.1	4	4
Romblon	52.8	55.2	2.4	8	5
Maguindanao	41.6	55.1	13.5	27	6
Lanao del Sur	55.6	55.0	-0.6	7	7
Sultan Kudarat	36.6	54.3	17.7	38	8
Camiguin	32.5	53.1	20.6	49	9
Camarines Norte	49.7	52.7	3.0	10	10

Source: National Statistical Coordination Board

Eliminating Poverty

Economic Growth

• Growth is fundamental for poverty reduction, and in principle growth as such does not seem to affect inequality
• Growth accompanied by progressive distributional change is better than growth alone
• High initial income inequality is a brake on poverty reduction.
• Poverty itself is also likely to be a barrier for poverty reduction, and wealth inequality seems to predict lower future growth rates.