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This toolkit is designed to be used by young people to support them in taking action about local or global issues that they care about. It can be used in the context of The Cost of Living Crisis or any other context that they care about.

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This toolkit is designed to be used by young people to support them in taking action about local or global issues that they care about. It can be used in the context of The Cost of Living Crisis or any other context that they care about.

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Library of resources to search

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Oxfam is proud to share the knowledge and experience it has gained over 70 years working in more than 90 countries. Our digital repository provides access to a wide range of publications including: case studies and evaluations; journal articles; research reports and datasets; technical and policy briefs; and training manuals.

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Library of resources to search

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Oxfam is proud to share the knowledge and experience it has gained over 70 years working in more than 90 countries. Our digital repository provides access to a wide range of publications including: case studies and evaluations; journal articles; research reports and datasets; technical and policy briefs; and training manuals.

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Please get in touch by emailing Jennifer@Scotdec.org.uk. We love hearing about resources you love or organisations that are doing extraordinary things!

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Data and stories about how the gap between rich and poor grows wider every year and leads to huge differences in life chances globally.

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The gap between rich and poor grows wider every year and leads to huge differences in life chances. It exacerbates existing inequalities in other areas, such as those based on gender, geography, ethnicity, race, caste or religion. It damages our economies, fuels public anger across the globe and stands in the way of eliminating global poverty.

The race to the bottom on personal income and corporate tax is a large part of the problem. While public services are suffering from chronic underfunding or being outsourced to private companies, many governments are under-taxing corporations and wealthy individuals, loosing significant amounts of money that could be invested in schools, hospitals and roads. Corporate tax dodging costs poor countries at least $100 billion every year.

From campaigning to end the financial secrecy that shelters trillions hidden in tax havens, to encouraging investment in universal education and healthcare - Oxfam is working to make sure that the poor get a share of the power and resources that will help to reduce poverty and inequality. We have extensive experience of delivering programs and campaigns that advance people's rights through work on tax, budget and social accountability.

Invest in work on tax justice and domestic resources mobilization and advocate fairer, pro-poor taxation policies

Support civil society to monitor public finance and to hold governments accountable for delivery of free quality services

Support campaigns for health and education and support organizations that work with governments on innovative ways to reach women and girls

Extreme inequality is not inevitable or accidental. It is the result of deliberate political and economic choices, and it can be reversed.

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Extreme inequality and essential services | Oxfam International

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The gap between rich and poor grows wider every year and leads to huge differences in life chances. It exacerbates existing inequalities in other areas, such as those based on gender, geography, ethnicity, race, caste or religion. It damages our economies, fuels public anger across the globe and stands in the way of eliminating global poverty.

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Free science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) resources to engage pupils in real world issues including climate change, renewable energy, food security and disaster preparedness.

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Practical Action is a global innovator, inspiring people to discover and adopt ingenious, practical ways to free themselves from poverty and disadvantage.

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A series of lessons to support learners to critically interrogate the historical roots of humanitarianism and foreign aid.

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A Fair Share: A simulation game for 7-14 year olds exploring tax

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A Fair Share: A simulation game for 7-14 year olds exploring tax

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Learners start to increase their awareness of what tax is, how the money is spent, and our shared responsibility for public services.

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This briefing paper shows how the undervaluation of paid and unpaid care drives poverty and inequalities across Britain, and it outlines a transformational vision for change. Every day, millions of people, mostly women, provide essential paid and unpaid care for children and disabled, ill and older people. Yet their huge contribution remains widely unseen, undervalued [...]

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A Fair Share: A simulation game for 7-14 year olds exploring tax - Oxfam Policy & Practice

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Why should we pay tax? Do we all pay our fair share? And how should we pay for the things we all need to lead healthy, happy and safe lives? Through playing this simulation game, learners will discuss and draw their own conclusions about whether everyone pays their fair share, as well as reflect on [...]

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Film Focus - short films with learning templates

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Film Focus - short films with learning templates

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A number of these short films focus on SDG 1: No Poverty.

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Works with Local Authorities, corporate partners and thousands of households to keep good reusable materials out of landfill for community benefit. This is a true local circular economy in action.

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Reuse Scotland SCIO Zero Waste Dunbar | “charity shop” | Countess Crescent, Dunbar EH42 1DX, UK

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Cyrenians - Tackling the causes and consequences of homelessness

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Cyrenians - Tackling the causes and consequences of homelessness

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At Cyrenians, we tackle the causes and consequences of homelessness.

Everybody deserves the opportunity to lead valued, fulfilling lives. The support we offer is person-centred and relationship-based - meaning that we'll work alongside you towards the change you would like to see.

From help gaining employment and reconnecting with your community, to managing conflict and sustaining a tenancy, our range of services are here to provide flexible support.

Find out more about the services we offer below, or get in touch to make an enquiry.

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Tackling Homelessness | How We Help | Cyrenians

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Discover how we help those experiencing or at risk of homelessness through supported housing, employment help and more. Read more about our services.

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Together is an alliance of Scottish children's charities that works to improve the awareness, understanding and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

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Every fortnight, Together's e-newsletter brings you the latest on children's rights in Scotland, the UK and internationally, including news from our members, events, training opportunities, policy developments, funding opportunities and more.
Sign up to our e-newsletter using the link provided!
You can submit your news to Together's monthly e-newsletter and highlight your activities to over 2100 subscribers across Scotland. We are interested in all activity around children's rights - press releases, details of upcoming events, campaigns, conferences, courses, reports and publications, funding news and responses to consultations. Please send your submissions to info@togetherscotland.org.uk.

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Together is an alliance of Scottish children's charities that works to improve the awareness, understanding and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). We do this by: promoting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; helping children's organisations to integrate the UNCRC into their work; monitoring and reporting on the progress made at a Scottish and UK level.

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Giving young people a real-life experience of running their own social enterprise in school.

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Learn more about the Social Enterprise Schools programme in Scotland.

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CHAI (Community Help & Advice initiative) 

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CHAI (Community Help & Advice initiative) 

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Supports and empowers people and communities across Edinburgh through free, confidential, high-quality, impartial advice, information and representation on welfare benefits, money, housing and employability.

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Check out our Annual Report 2022/23 to read about our work and the impact we have had across our various projects!

The report includes key statistics, in terms of the number of people we have helped, and case studies of our work.

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Supporting People & Communities Across Edinburgh &The Lothians So, how can we help you ? What We Do Our Services Advice We provide free, confidential and high-quality advice, information and representation on welfare rights, housing and debt and money issues in a range of venues throughout Edinburgh.

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Runnymede Trust - Structural Racism and Poverty in the UK

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Runnymede Trust - Structural Racism and Poverty in the UK

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Black and minority ethnic people are 2.5 times more likely to be in poverty than white people.

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Black and minority ethnic people are disproportionately falling faster and further below the poverty line amidst the cost of living crisis.

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Falling Faster shows that Black and minority ethnic people are 2.5 times more likely to be in relative poverty, and 2.2 times more likely to be in deep poverty (having an income that falls more than 50% below the relative poverty line), than their white counterparts.

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Progress towards closing the economic gap between white and minority ethnic communities has stalled since the 2007-08 financial crisis, with inequalities becoming particularly pronounced since the pandemic. As a result, Black and minority ethnic people are heavily over-represented amongst the lowest-income groups and are currently experiencing much higher levels of food insecurity, material deprivation and fuel poverty as we are starting to feel the effects of the cost of living crisis.

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'Falling Faster' shows that:

Black and minority ethnic people are 2.5 times more likely to be in poverty than white people, with racial inequalities most pronounced in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Yorkshire and the Humber.

Beneath the poverty line, average incomes for Black and minority ethnic people have fallen faster and deeper (by six percentage points) than they have for white people (by 1 percentage point) over the last decade, with this becoming particularly pronounced since the start of COVID-19.

Despite only making up around 15% of the population in the UK, more than a quarter (26%) of those in 'deep poverty' are from a Black and minority ethnic background, and make up a growing share of those on the lowest incomes.

As a result, Black and minority ethnic people are currently 2.2 times more likely to be in deep poverty than white people, with Bangladeshi people more than three times more likely.

Over the last decade, changes to the tax and social security system have been highly regressive, but also racialised. In real terms, white families now receive £454 less a year on average in cash benefits than they did a decade ago. But this rises to £806 less a year for Black and minority ethnic families and even higher to £1,635 for Black families. Black and minority ethnic women have been some of the worst affected and currently receive £1,040 less than they did a decade ago.

These developments have left many Black and minority ethnic households disproportionately exposed to the current cost-of-living crisis. In nominal and relative terms, the 'Energy Price Guarantee' announced earlier this month will lift more white households out of fuel poverty than Black and minority ethnic households. As a result, just under a third (32%) of White people are likely to experience fuel poverty this winter compared to more than half (52%) of Black and minority ethnic people (rising to two thirds (66%) of Pakistani and Bangladeshi people).

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Black and minority ethnic people were most affected by the economic shocks associated with the 2007-08 global financial crisis and COVID-19. As we head into a new crisis of living standards and likely recession, a renewed and reimagined commitment to protecting those in the deepest forms of poverty is needed if we are to protect those most vulnerable, close the economic gap, and achieve racial equality. In Falling Faster the Runnymede Trust makes a number of recommendations:

Appropriately target support to the communities most in need - cost-of-living payments to means-tested social security recipients (currently worth £650) should be significantly enhanced and extended to help the lowest-income households meet rising costs;

The government should also adequately resource the Household Support Fund and target additional funds towards local authorities with the highest rates of child poverty;

The government should rethink how the blanket interventions proposed by the Truss administration are going to be funded. The UK should follow the EU and introduce a Windfall Tax on the excess profits of energy companies to ensure targeted interventions are effectively funded through a broad tax base that is socially progressive and sustainable in the long-term;‍

Strengthen and expand social security measures. In the immediate term, a real-time uprating of social security in line with rising inflation would address the growing gap between entitlement and need, and protect against deepening poverty amongst minority ethnic communities. In line with COVID-19 precedents, the government should permanently reintroduce and extend the £20 uplift to all those relying on Universal Credit (as well as other mean-tested legacy benefits). Recent announcements threatening to reduce benefit levels for certain Universal Credit claimants represent a continuation of punitive activation measures that are known to be highly counter-productive at supporting people into (more) work. Such approaches should be abandoned;‍

Improving access to support for communities with diverse needs. The 'digital-by-default' benefits system and move towards remote forms of welfare rights advice have undermined equality of access for many hyper-marginalised groups since COVID-19. As a result, many Black and minority ethnic people are unable to access the benefits they are entitled to due to issues of digital access or support. Community-centred services that cultivate trust and tailor services to the diverse needs of Black and minority ethnic people are sorely needed. Tailored, in-person and flexible services must be delivered with minority ethnic people to ensure equal access to social security, welfare rights advice and support;‍

Scrapping no recourse to public funds. During the pandemic, up to 1.4 million people were excluded from financial support altogether with the vast majority (82%) affected being from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background. The UK government should suspend the NRPF condition with immediate effect to prevent widespread destitution amongst those currently affected in the coming winter. At a minimum, the Home Office should publicly report on ethnicity data of those with NRPF.

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Expand measurements to better understand deep poverty;

Collect and disclose 'hidden statistics';

Apply a racial lens to 'levelling up';

Tackle income inequality

We also makes a number of recommendations for long-term, systemic changes, including:

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"The growing rates of poverty outlined in our briefing, in the world's fifth largest economy, are simply unconscionable. We talk about this cost-of-living crisis in universal terms. No one is immune from the consequences. However, what's clear from this research is that some groups are less equal and more impacted than others, including our black and minority ethnic communities.

"The pandemic made abundantly clear that when a crisis hits, support needs to be targeted urgently towards those who will be worst affected, usually those at the intersection of multiple structural inequalities. More must be done not just to stave off but to reset the economy in light of a catastrophe that is snowballing, fast.

"In funding the energy price cap through public borrowing, offering tax cuts for the wealthiest and lifting the cap on bankers' bonuses, the Government is doing little to demonstrate its willingness to prioritise the solutions that will be increasingly and desperately needed by our multi-ethnic working class. Without continued and significant public investment in social security and infrastructures, and tailored commitments to job security and fair wages, Black and minority ethnic communities in particular will continue to face hardships unknown for generations." - Dr Halima Begum, our CEO

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"Differences in relative and deep poverty may be something we talk about as percentage figures, but in real life we are talking about the pounds and pennies that make the difference between survival and destitution. For so many of our Black and minority ethnic families this means making decisions about whether to use their gas cooker or only buy food that can be heated in a microwave, whether parents eat or feed their prepayment electricity meter, or whether they can afford the £1 donation to charity their child's school is requesting for non-uniform day. These are devastating decisions which leave scars that last for generations." - Dr Shabna Begum, our Head of Research

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Falling Faster amidst a Cost-of-Living Crisis: Poverty, Inequality and Ethnicity in the UK

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Falling Faster shows how and why Black and minority ethnic people are disproportionately suffering from poverty and income disparities amidst the cost of living crisis.

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CPAG - Cost of the School Day Ideas Bank

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CPAG - Cost of the School Day Ideas Bank

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What schools across Scotland are doing to reduce costs, boost incomes and support low income families.

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eLearning course is for anyone who has an interest in reducing costs to families, supporting learners and promoting equity in education.

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Explore how school communities can reduce and remove the financial barriers to education for children and young people from low-income families.

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Helps all members of your school community to join the discussion about the barriers costs create and how to tackle them.

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Cost of the School Day Toolkit - Scotland

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This toolkit is designed to get everyone talking about the Cost of the School Day.

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Provides impactful visual. It explains why ending poverty has been difficult to reach. Interactive opportunity for pupils to show how poverty levels change.

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UN examples of inequality and gives an insight as to why it should be reduced, and how it can be tackled Provides a summarised infographic.

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Insightful data, specifically the figures included throughout on changes in different types of poverty.

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The world has experienced substantial but uneven progress in poverty reduction over the past three decades. In 1990, at least half of the people in East Asia, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa were living in extreme poverty. However, the pace of poverty reduction since then has been quite different across regions. In 2019 the estimated rates of extreme poverty in these three regions were 1 percent (East Asia), 9 percent (South Asia), and 35 percent (Sub-Saharan Africa). It implies a stark change in the distribution of global poverty over time, which is to be considered when allocating resources among regions to end global poverty.

The world has seen significant transformations in its demographic and economic structures in recent times. In 2022, the world's population surpassed 8 billion for the first time and, this year, India (a lower-middle-income country) has overtaken China (an upper-middle-income country) as the world's most populous country. About 57 percent of the world population was living in low-income countries in 1990, whereas only 9 percent of the world population is now living in low-income countries. In fact, population growth and income status are highly correlated, and their interaction may result in differences in the definitions of poverty across countries and over time.

As countries evolve from low to high levels of development, the concept of poverty tends to shift gradually from absolute poverty to relative poverty. Absolute poverty captures deprivations in basic needs, such as food, clothing, and shelter, and absolute measures of poverty are fixed in real terms across time and space. Relative poverty accounts for the lack of resources to participate adequately in one's society as it progresses. Measures of relative poverty are defined in relation to a typical measure of economic well-being (e.g., having a disposable income less than 60% of the median in the OECD). Beyond the satisfaction of basic needs, an individual would still feel poor if they are unable to afford a decent lifestyle expected of them in the society in which they live. Relative poverty, therefore, also captures inequality. More recently, societal poverty has been conceptualized as a middle ground for defining poverty, capturing both absolute and relative notions of poverty (see Ravallion and Chen (2011), World Bank (2018) and Jolliffe and Prydz (2021) for more details). These three ways of measuring poverty are discussed below.

The World Bank has official poverty lines that reflect these different concepts of poverty. These include $2.15, $3.65, $6.85, and max($2.15, $1.15 + 50% of median consumption or income), all expressed in 2017 PPP (more details on these lines below). The first three lines are the absolute poverty lines typical of low-, lower-middle-, and upper-middle-income countries, respectively. As the income status of a country increases, so does its national poverty line, reflecting the relative concept of poverty. The societal poverty line incorporates both absolute and relative concepts of poverty. See Jolliffe ⓡ al. (2022) for the technical analysis underpinning all these poverty lines of the World Bank.

The question of where the world's poor live is a tricky one, because it depends on the poverty line being used to measure poverty across countries and not all countries are at the same level of development in any given year. Figure 1 shows that the regional distribution of poverty can be quite different, depending on the definition of poverty assumed.
Figure 1: The share of global poor by region The international poverty line: a measure of absolute poverty
The international poverty line, currently set at $2.15, is the standard metric for monitoring extreme poverty in the world. This standard is based on the poverty lines used in the poorest countries of the world, which are often set to reflect the budget necessary to afford enough food to meet basic daily caloric needs. If an individual lives on less than $2.15 a day, they are counted as living in extreme poverty. Based on this line, the distribution of global poverty has changed significantly between 1990 and 2019 (see Figure 2 for more details). In 1990, fifty-three percent of the world's population living in extreme poverty were in East Asia alone and 14 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa, behind East Asia and South Asia. In 2019, only about 4 percent of the world's population in extreme poverty lived in East Asia. The burden of extreme poverty has shifted from East Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa, where about 60 percent of the extreme poor were living in 2019. Progress in poverty reduction in East Asia was so impressive that by 2003, South Asia became the region with the largest share of the world's extreme poor. By 2007, Sub-Saharan Africa became second after South Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa has since 2011 been the region with the largest and growing share of the world's extreme poor.
Figure 2: Share of global poor living below the international poverty line, %
The population of Sub-Saharan Africa has more than doubled between 1990 and 2019. Rapid population growth explains about a third of the global burden of extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. Suppose regional population shares remained in 2019 as they were in 1990, and poverty rates for 1990 and 2019 remained unchanged, 40 percent and not about 60 percent of the world's population living in extreme poverty would be in Sub-Saharan Africa. Extreme poverty would still be mostly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa, followed by South Asia. In fact, the relative ranking of the world's regions by poverty status would remain unchanged.
Income-group-specific poverty line: a measure of relative poverty
National poverty lines tend to increase with economic growth and richer countries tend to have higher poverty lines, even after taking into account differences in relative prices. This pattern is consistent with the principle of non-satiation. As income increases, the commodities people need for a meaningful life often increase. A one-week vacation would be a luxury in a low-income setting, but is one of the indicators in the European Union's material deprivation index and is therefore considered a necessity in this group of high-income countries. To account for this variation in needs across space and time, an income-group-specific poverty line could be defined that varies across countries over time, as they change income status. For each year, a country will be assigned the poverty line corresponding to its income status. China was a low-income country in 1998, graduated into a lower-middle-income status in 1999 and further graduated to an upper-middle-income country in 2010. Using an income-group-specific poverty line for poverty assessment would mean that poverty in China will be measured using $2.15 in 1998, $3.65 in 1999, and $6.85 in 2010. Having always been a low-income country, Burundi will be assigned the international poverty line of $2.15 for all years. See Figure 3.
Figure 3. The international poverty line and income-group-specific poverty line Notes: This figure illustrates the income-group-specific poverty line using data for 2017. Low-income countries (LIC) are countries whose gross national income per capita is below $996 and are assigned a poverty line of $2.15. Lower-middle-income countries are countries whose gross national income per capita falls between $996 and $3,896 and are assigned a poverty line of $3.65. Upper-middle-income countries are countries whose gross national income per capita falls between $3,896 and $12,055 and are assigned a poverty line of $6.85. High-income countries (HIC) are countries whose gross national income per capita is above $12,055 and are assigned a poverty line of $24.35.
The distribution of global poverty has evolved quite differently across regions when the poverty line varies with the income status of countries (see Figure 4 for more details). In the 1990s, when most of the world's countries were low-income countries, the distribution of global poverty was skewed toward East Asia, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. As more countries in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa began joining the club of middle-income countries in the 2000s, global poverty shifted more to these regions. By 2007 when India became a lower-middle-income country, South Asia alone contributed to 36 percent of global poverty. When China became an upper-middle-income in 2010, East Asia contributed to 34 percent of global poverty. In sum, from 2010 to 2019, most of the global poor were living in South Asia and East Asia when using the income-group-specific poverty line. East Asia and South Asia have seen a lot of progress in reducing extreme poverty, yet a significant share of their people still have a relatively low standard of living. By 2019, 56 percent of the global poor were living in these two regions based on a relative notion of poverty.
Figure 4. Share of global poor living below the income-group-specific poverty line, % Societal poverty line: a measure of weakly relative poverty
In more recent years, when more countries have become middle-income countries, and most of the world's population are living in middle-income countries, the societal poverty line comes in handy. It presents a middle ground for defining poverty, capturing both absolute and relative notions of poverty. The societal poverty line is given as: max($2.15, $1.15 + 50% of median consumption or income) in 2017 PPP. That means a person is living in societal poverty if they are living on less than 1.15 dollars a day plus 50 percent of daily median consumption (or income) in their country of residence. It is a measure of inequality, as changes in its relative portion are driven by changes in inequality. It varies directly with median income (or consumption) and is country-year-specific. However, at very low-income levels (i.e., when [$1.15 + 50% of the median] is less than $2.15), the societal poverty line becomes the international poverty line ($2.15). The idea here is that, in such low-income settings, absolute (extreme) poverty is the relevant concept of poverty; it is too early to be incorporating the concept of relative poverty. For example, the societal poverty line for Ghana would be the international poverty line ($2.15) until 2000 and [$1.15 + 50% of median consumption] afterward when the country has become richer. For Burundi, the societal poverty line is the international poverty line ($2.15) for all years because of its very low levels of consumption. By contrast, the societal poverty line would be [$1.15 + 50% of median income] for all years in advanced economies, such as the United States. See Figure 5.
Figure 5. Societal poverty line Notes: This figure illustrates the societal poverty line using data for Burundi (a low-income country), Ghana (a middle-income country) and the United States (a high-income country). The y-axis is on a log scale.
Using the societal poverty line to measure poverty across countries also yields a different regional distribution of global poverty over time (see Figure 6 for more details). Starting off with East Asia as the leading contributor to global poverty (44 percent) in 1990, the concentration of global poverty moved steadily to South Asia in the 2000s, as economic growth occurred with rising inequality, particularly in India. By 2011, when inequality began to fall in China, global societal poverty moved away from East Asia to South Asia. By 2019, 27 percent of the global poor lived in South Asia and 24 percent of the global poor lived in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most countries in these two regions have been experiencing high or rising inequality. With the societal poverty line, global poverty shifts more evenly toward other regions, such as the Rest of the World (i.e., the rich world), Europe and Central Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean (Figure 6 & Figure 1).
Figure 6. Share of global poor living below the societal poverty line, % Summing up
When one defines poverty in a more dynamic way, such that the meaning of poverty changes over time and space, a more holistic approach is required to know where the poor live. Countries are at different levels of development in any given year, and countries' positions in the global income distribution change over time. The changes in the regional distribution of global poverty between 1990 and 2019 have been largely driven by three regions-East Asia, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa-constituting about two-thirds of the world's population. These are also the regions that have seen drastic demographic and economic changes in the past three decades.

Regardless of the notion of poverty assumed, global poverty was mostly concentrated in East Asia in 1990. Extreme poverty has now moved to Sub-Saharan Africa and most of the world's population living in relative poverty are in South Asia, East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, where a growing share of middle-income countries are located.
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the UK Government through the Data and Evidence for Tackling Extreme Poverty (DEEP) Research Program.

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Where in the world do the poor live? It depends on how poverty is defined

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The world has experienced substantial but uneven progress in poverty reduction over the past three decades. In 1990, at least half of the people in East Asia, South Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa were living in extreme poverty. However, the pace of poverty reduction since then has been quite different across regions.

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TED TALK - why is it so hard to escape poverty?

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TED TALK - why is it so hard to escape poverty?

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Helps to think about why some people have difficulty in escaping poverty.

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Why is it so hard to escape poverty? - Ann-Helén Bay

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Oxfam resource.

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There tends to be a heavy focus on the idea of absolute poverty, but it is also useful to think about relative poverty.

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In simple terms, poverty is not having enough money or access to resources to enjoy a decent standard of living; be that the lack of access to healthcare, education or water and sanitation facilities etc.

Historically, poverty in the UK was defined as either primary and secondary in studies by Seebhom Rowntree in the 20th century.

Primary poverty means not having enough money to meet basic needs. It can also be considered as 'living below the poverty line.'

Secondary poverty is when people earn just enough money to afford the necessities. But, they spend part of it on "coping mechanisms" to deal with financial and work-related stress. (high risk and/or difficult working conditions due to abuse and long hours) and therefore end up struggling to make ends meet

In the end, Rowntree identified low wages as the main cause of poverty in the UK, rather than the poorest being responsible for their own condition - which was the most common criticism back then (and still is today to some extent).

Understanding the cycle of poverty

Statistics worldwide back this conclusion today, people born into poverty are much more likely to remain poor. Some people might escape it, but for the majority, hard work isn't the solution when the economic system works against them. This is what constitutes the cycle of poverty.

Not having access to healthy food, decent housing, electricity, water means you effectively live in severe, absolute poverty. And the cost of these things is too high for you to afford them, or at least you can't afford them all. So, which one do you prioritise?

That's why finding a definition of relative or absolute poverty isn't simple since it doesn't just involve economics, but it is also affected by society and politics. For this reason is poverty a measurable concept? And if yes, should we measure it using a relative approach or an absolute one?

What is relative vs. absolute poverty

Absolute poverty is when household income is below a certain level. This makes it impossible for the person or family to meet basic needs of life including food, shelter, safe drinking water, education, healthcare, etc.

In this state of poverty, even if the country is growing economically it has no effect on people living below the poverty line. Absolute poverty compares households based on a set income level. And this level varies from country to country depending on its overall economic conditions.

Relative poverty is when households receive 50% less than average household incomes. So they do have some money but still not enough money to afford anything above the basics. This type of poverty is, on the other hand, changeable depending on the economic growth of the country.

Relative poverty is sometimes described as "relative deprivation" because the people falling under this category are not living in total poverty. They are not, however, enjoying the same standard of life as everyone else in the country. It can be TV, internet, clean clothes, a safe home (a healthy environment, free from abuse or neglect), or even education.

Relative poverty can also be permanent. This means that certain families have absolutely no chance of enjoying the same standards of living as other people in the same society currently have access to. They are basically "trapped" in a low relative income box.

When the relative approach is used to measure poverty, there is another concept that needs to be explored - persistent poverty. This is when households receive 50 or 60% less income than average incomes every 2 out of 3 years. Since long-term poverty has more impactful consequences on economic and social conditions, persistent poverty is an important concept to bear in mind.

Relative poverty is a form of social exclusion

On the whole, poverty is about exclusion. In its most extreme form, it's the inability to access what you need for a decent life. Relatively speaking, in more developed countries, it's being excluded from what constitutes normal daily life:

Internet to access jobs or public services

The proper clothes to find that job

Paying for education

Access to decent housing (respiratory diseases is one of the most common symptoms of poor housing)

Relative poverty depends on the level of development of the country. It's about giving everyone the chance to enjoy the same living standards so that everyone has an equal opportunity to live their life to their full potential. In that sense, fighting poverty is about unlocking huge, untapped economic potential within each country.

How poverty is measured

To measure whether poverty is absolute or relative you first have to construct thresholds. You must also collate data to calculate the overall number of people who could be considered poor.

Then, when a relative approach is used, a (changeable) level of what households should be able to rely on in order to meet their basic needs is set. And anyone who falls below that is counted in this category.

The absolute method is set at a fixed level that does not change over time. There might be a huge gap between the current level of poverty and the historical standard when this approach is used. Absolute poverty is, therefore, losing its status in the world of economics. Especially in countries where the economy is growing and living standards are rising.

Since the relative approach to measuring poverty uses current data and statistics. It is considered a better and more useful approach. Relative poverty is the main measurement used today because in practice it indicates the number of households that have been "relatively" left behind. Left behind from the households that are currently enjoying a good standard of living.

However, unlike the relative method, the absolute approach helps us to determine whether incomes have increased over time or not. This being said, it does not link the condition with inequality or unfair distribution of resources.

It is for this reason that many economic experts throughout the world suggest that a hybrid approach should be used. Especially for the measurement of poverty in order to pinpoint areas where improvement is possible.

As stated at the beginning, you many think that poverty is simply not having enough money or access to resources to enjoy a decent standard of living, but when further exploring the types, reasons and solutions to do with poverty, you can see it all becomes much more complex.
This post was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Habitat for Humanity GB and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

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Relative vs Absolute Poverty: Defining Different Types of Poverty

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You many think that poverty is simply not having enough money or access to resources to enjoy a decent standard of living...

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Section 1 provides background information to support professional understanding of poverty and inequality, including stories and research.

Section 2 profiles innovative organisations that work to tackle poverty and inequality. We have included these as they offer inspiring case studies to share with learners and encourage a hopeful vision for the future.

Sections 3 and 4 offer Global Citizenship resources for the Primary and Secondary classroom to explore these issues with learners.

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This Padlet is designed to support our anytime learning resource exploring the Cost of Living Crisis.

Scotdec works within the IDEAS network to advocate for learning around poverty and inequality. Using participatory learning methodologies enables young people to enhance key skills and values to develop greater curiosity about the world and feel greater agency for positive change.