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This website has an amazing definition of poverty. It is very easy to understand.

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Poverty is a state in which someone lacks the resources and financial stability for a certin type of living. Poverty can have many different environmental, legal, social, economic, and political causes and effects.

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Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is more, much more than just not having enough money.

The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way:
"Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to action -- for the poor and the wealthy alike -- a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities."
In addition to a lack of money, poverty is about not being able to participate in recreational activities; not being able to send children on a day trip with their schoolmates or to a birthday party; not being able to pay for medications for an illness. 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.

While much progress has been made in measuring and analyzing poverty, the World Bank Organization is doing more work to identify indicators for the other dimensions of poverty. This work includes identifying social indicators to track education, health, access to services, vulnerability, and social exclusion.

There is no one cause of poverty, and the results of it are different in every case. Poverty varies considerably depending on the situation. Feeling poor in Canada is different from living in poverty in Russia or Zimbabwe. The differences between rich and poor within the borders of a country can also be great.

Despite the many definitions, one thing is certain; poverty is a complex societal issue. No matter how poverty is defined, it can be agreed that it is an issue that requires everyone's attention. It is important that all members of our society work together to provide the opportunities for all our members to reach their full potential. It helps all of us to help one another .

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what is poverty? - economic and social inclusion corporation

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What is poverty? - Economic and Social Inclusion Corporation - New Brunswick

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This website outlines the impacts poverty has on people and it's negative effects.

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Poverty greatly affects anyone who is living with it. It affects how they go about their day and ration off certain things. Poverty can change anyone’s life for the bad. Poverty doesn’t discriminate. It will affect anyone and everyone if it gets the chance.

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Poverty can negatively impact families and caregivers in a number of ways:

As with children, adults who live in poverty experience worse health outcomes, including higher mortality rates and increased risk of mental health conditions (e.g. depression, substance use disorders). The stress of poverty, coupled with inadequate health care access and limited financial resources for treatment, further exacerbates health conditions and makes parenting even more challenging

Poverty can create considerable stress for families. As per the family stress model, poverty can contribute to interparental conflict, which plays a key role in family dynamics and can be a precursor to negative child outcomes. Conflict can also arise between children and parents because of economic pressures. For example, children may resent parents for having to work late or not being able to provide small luxuries. Finally, the living conditions associated with poverty - notably overcrowded housing and housing instability - can negatively affect all family relationships, including sibling relationships

Poverty can make it difficult for parents to maintain a work-life balance that allows them to spend time at home caring for their children and to be active and involved with school, extracurricular activities, and community life. Parents on a low income are more likely to work long hours in precarious jobs that do not provide basic supports like parental leave and sick pay. Low-income workers typically also have less flexibility and choice than other parents (for example, they must rely on public transportation and do not have access to work-from-home options)

Low-income fathers and paternal family members may be at risk of reduced family involvement due to negative perceptions they may have regarding their value and ability to fill the role of father as economic provider. It's important to note that the relationship between poverty and father involvement is complicated, as structural violence and other systemic barriers also play a role. Recent research also indicates that, despite racist and classist stereotypes about "deadbeat dads," the majority of low-income fathers are involved with their children once the definition of fatherhood is expanded beyond financial contributor

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OACAS Library Guides: Poverty and child welfare: Effects of poverty on families

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Poverty can negatively impact families and caregivers in a number of ways: As with children, adults who live in poverty experience worse health outcomes, including higher mortality rates and increased risk of mental health conditions (e.g. depression, substance use disorders).

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This is a link to more information on how marginalized groups are affected more often.

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Historically marginalized groups of people were most prone to poverty. Poverty also tends to stick to it’s people. If your parents live in poverty it is likely that you will too. It is hard to get out of poverty because most people with the funds to help don’t want to and you can’t do much without money. There are those stories out there of people who made it through but it isn’t likely that most people will accomplish this without help. Though I always believe you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.

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As of 2019, an estimated 10% of people in Canada currently live in conditions of poverty, but the poverty rate is expected to increase with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Poverty statistics exclude people living in hidden poverty, which occurs when an individual earns above the poverty line, but cannot afford adequate food, hydro bills, childcare, or other basic necessities. Hidden poverty also encompasses undocumented people in Canada, and people who are on the brink of poverty.

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Poverty entails more than the lack of income and productive resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion, as well as the lack of participation in decision-making -The United Nations Poverty is a violation of the most fundamental human rights possessed by every person.

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This shows who is most affected by poverty. We can see that places in Africa are affected the most while North America isn't affected as much. (You have to click on the website to see the full image + key)

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A new report from the World Bank just landed, finding that a record low of 10% of humanity now live in extreme poverty, down from 11% in 2013. But poverty rates aren't anywhere close to equal between continents or even countries, as our new series of maps clearly demonstrates.

The World Bank provides an in-depth explanation for its methodology, which you can find in Appendix A of the full report here. We focused on the percentage of people in each country living below what the World Bank defines as extreme poverty, or $1.90/day. We'll let the researchers defend this definition on their own, but there is one caveat to keep in mind. It can be extraordinarily difficult to collect reliable data from so many countries on a regular basis, and in fact we used the latest year in which numbers were available whenever possible. For example, in some of these maps we compare 2011 figures against 2015. In short, our maps provide the clearest possible apples-to-apples comparison for extremely poverty from around the world.

To start, there are several dark and light green countries scattered around the globe, from the United States down to Argentina and from Russia to Australia, there are lots of developed countries where very few people experience a subsistence standard of living. This is what people mean when they refer to the global North and South. To be fair, there are also several gaps in the available data in places like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Poland and Greenland. But none of these countries would change the overall story, that developed countries are much wealthier than everyone else.
It's clear that the one continent with the most extreme levels of poverty is Africa. There are only five countries on the entire landmass where less than 5% of the population lives in abject poverty, and in fact most places have levels well over 25%. The only group of green countries is clustered to the north along the Mediterranean, notably the ones closest to Europe and furthest from the heart of Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo (77.1%) and Madagascar (77.6%) are at the epicenter of global extreme poverty. They are the 2 poorest countries on the planet, where it's far more common to find someone living on less than $2/day than not. There's no better continent to illustrate the differences between the global North and South than Asia, but the 2 countries deserving special consideration here are China (0.7%) and India (21.2%). China has pursued an aggressive modernization effort under authoritarianism and one-party rule. By contrast, India is a democratic republic also undergoing a massive transformation. And according to PwC both countries will have economies larger than that of the United State by the year 2050. We'll have to wait and see how the ongoing trade spat with President Trump changes these dynamics (or not). South America also has an interesting story to tell. Keep in mind, the World Bank's numbers are the latest available, which means 2015 or even 2011 for some countries. We mention this because the situation in Venezuela has rapidly deteriorated over the last few years with about 2 million people fleeing the country and inflation hitting 200,000%. Surinam (23.4%) and Honduras (16.0%) also stand out as pockets of deep poverty in the Western Hemisphere, and in fact many of the people in the caravan of migrants heading to the United States through Mexico originated from Honduras. Skipping across the Pacific Ocean to Australia, we find a developed English-speaking country in Australia (0.5%) very close to countries in abject poverty like Papua New Guinea (38.0%) and Timor-Leste (30.3%). That being said, Australia generally has far friendlier immigration policies than other developed countries, so much so that one could say it has an "immigration economy." The winners in the global economy today are the same countries that colonized places life Africa and South America years ago. Indeed, the world looks decisively different in Western Europe, where only one country, Romania, has more than 5% of its population living in extreme poverty. Almost every country has fewer than 1% living in such a condition, and many report 0.0%. Social democracies with developed economies and rich in natural resources-there's no wonder why so many immigrants want to move to the West. And lastly, consider North America, where the rate of extreme poverty declines the further north one travels from Mexico (2.5%) to the United States (1.2%) and Canada (0.5%). There is actually an interesting comparison here, which is to say that the United States is proportionally home to more people subsisting on $1.90/day than China (0.7%). That being said, there are substantially more extremely wealthy people in the US than any other country in the world, not to mention the world's largest economy at $19.4 trillion.

About the article

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Mapping Extreme Poverty Around the World

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A new report from the World Bank just landed, finding that a record low of 10% of humanity now live in extreme poverty, down from 11% in 2013. But poverty rates aren't anywhere close to equal between continents or even countries, as our new series of maps clearly demonstrates.

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This website showcases more information on poverty across the globe.

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Some places in Africa are the most affected by poverty because of the harsh conditions and big population. The water crisis in Africa also doesn’t help. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest child poverty rate in the world. Additionally, the majority of adults there didn’t go to school and therefore can’t read. Their inability to read effects what jobs they can get and overall their quality of life.

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This is a map of the 2020 poverty rates in Canada.

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Poverty can be found all throughout Canada. New brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba tend to have the highest poverty rate while PEI, and Newfoundland and Labrador tend to have the least. It was definitely this way in a study done in 2014. The stats have changed since then but remain fairly similar.

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The purpose of 2020 Poverty trends is to serve as a quick guide or reference for advocacy and education. Thus, we invite researchers and readers to reflect on the actual poverty cases and the realities of Canada's systemic oppression. Canada's set of implementations and laws are required legally to preserve its citizens' rights by granting them adequate education, quality health care, and living standard. However, it is unfortunate that these have not come to reality yet among a significant percentage of Canada's population.

Below is the list of ironic facts about Canada's system:

Yes, we should be given enough food. However, one in four single-parent households does not have enough food supply.

Yes, we should be granted quality education. However, students who have disabilities, and are living in rural, inaccessible places, do not actually have the same amount of support and quality of education as those people living in urban places.

Yes, we should be granted fair conditions and safe employment, but thirteen percent of the Black Canadians' population said they had experienced more workplace discrimination, especially during the hiring process.

Yes, we have to be healthy, but more than 11% of twelve years or older people said that they had not received quality health care in times when they badly needed it.

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Poverty Trends 2020 - Play Against All Odds

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The purpose of 2020 Poverty trends is to serve as a quick guide or reference for advocacy and education. Thus, we invite researchers and readers to reflect on the actual poverty cases and the realities of Canada's systemic oppression.

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This website talks about poverty and the poverty rates in Canada. It is an interesting read.

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Key Messages

Alberta is the top-ranking province, scoring an "A" and ranking third after Denmark and Finland.

Seven provinces have higher poverty rates than all peer countries except Japan and the United States.

Overall, Canada gets a "C" and ranks 13th among the 16 peer countries.

Putting poverty in context

The overarching goal of the Conference Board's How Canada Performs is to measure quality of life in Canada and its peer countries. Poverty affects quality of life not only of the poor but of everyone in society. Poverty can lead to higher crime rates, illness, substance abuse, and poor educational outcomes, which, in turn, affect the economy through lost productivity. Poverty can also lead to discrimination, inequity, and social exclusion. As the OECD has concluded, "failure to tackle the poverty and exclusion facing millions of families and their children is not only socially reprehensible, but it will also weigh heavily on countries' capacity to sustain economic growth in years to come."

How is the poverty rate calculated?

Poverty can be measured in both absolute and in relative terms. Absolute poverty examines whether individuals are able to meet a basic threshold for survival. It is a set standard that typically does not change with time. For example, the share of the population that lives under $1.90 per day is an absolute measure of poverty used by the World Bank. "The concept of absolute poverty is not concerned with broader quality of life issues or with the overall level of inequality in society. The concept therefore fails to recognize that individuals have important social and cultural needs." Relative poverty, on the other hand, is defined "in relation to the economic status of other members of the society: people are poor if they fall below prevailing standards of living in a given societal context."

For our poverty indicator, we use low income measures (LIMs), which are relative measures of income, to assess how people fare compared with the general population. For a given country or region, the poverty line is calculated as 50 per cent of the national median income. The poverty rate is calculated as the share of the population with disposable incomes (after taxes and government transfers) below this poverty line.

The source of the poverty data for the peer countries, Canada, and the provinces is the OECD regional well-being database. Statistics Canada also produces relative poverty data for Canada and the provinces, but these data are not comparable to the OECD data because the OECD uses differing income concepts and components to arrive at its low income measures.

How do the poverty rates in the provinces compare to those of Canada's peer countries?

Alberta has the lowest poverty rate among the provinces and is a standout performer, scoring an "A" grade and ranking third overall. Alberta had a poverty rate of 7.2 per cent in 2013, which places it just behind Denmark (5.4) and Finland (6.8).

The next highest-ranking province, Saskatchewan, ranks a distant 14th overall and scores a "B" with a poverty rate of 11.3 per cent, just behind peer countries Belgium (10) and the U.K (10.7). Newfoundland and Labrador ranks just behind Saskatchewan and is a "C" performer with a poverty rate of 12.1 per cent.

Overall, Canada ranks 13th among the 16 peer countries and gets a "C" grade with a poverty rate of 12.6 per cent in 2013. Seven provinces also get "C"s and rank below the national average: Quebec (13.0), New Brunswick (13.3), Ontario (13.5), Manitoba (13.7), British Columbia (13.8), Nova Scotia (14.2), and P.E.I. (14.4). These provinces rank ahead of only two peer countries: Japan (16) and the United States (17.5).

How do the provinces perform relative to one another?

Alberta has the lowest poverty rate among all the provinces. Saskatchewan ranks second among the provinces, although its poverty rate of 11.3 per cent is 4 percentage points higher than that of top-ranked Alberta. Most provinces rank below the national average with poverty rates ranging from 13 to just over 14 per cent. P.E.I. had the highest poverty rate among the provinces in 2013-at 14.4 per cent, the province's poverty rate was exactly two times higher than that of Alberta.

Keep in mind, however, that the reference year for these data is 2013, prior to the commodity shock that hit resource-dependent provinces Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Thus, when more current data become available, the provincial rankings will likely change.

Are there comparable poverty data for the territories?

No. Unfortunately, Statistic Canada's Canadian Income Survey, the data source for OECD's poverty calculations for Canada, does not include the territories. So, we are unable to gauge the performance of the territories relative to the peer countries on this indicator.

Examining the social outcomes in the territories is critical, however, especially given that poverty among Aboriginal populations is significantly higher than among non-Aboriginal populations. The territories have the largest shares of Aboriginal populations in the country (in Yukon, N.W.T., and Nunavut 23, 52, and 86 per cent, respectively, of the population is Aboriginal).

The Conference Board plans to publish a standalone How Canada Performs report on social performance in the territories, which will examine their poverty rates and other key social measures, in spring/summer 2017.

How have the poverty rates in Canada and the provinces changed over time?

It is not possible to examine the historical performance for the indicator benchmarked in this report card because the OECD began collecting and disseminating poverty data at the regional level only recently. However, Statistics Canada's low income measure (LIM) figures show that Canada's poverty rate has remained fairly stable over the past few decades, hovering between 12 and 14 per cent. In fact, the rate in 1976 was the same as that in 2014, the most recent year for which data are available. Poverty in Canada dropped temporarily in the 1980s, reaching a low of 10.5 per cent in 1989.

The poverty rates in resource economies Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador have trended downwards since the late 1970s. Ontario has seen movement in the opposite direction, with its highest poverty rates in the past decade.

Provincial poverty rates, and hence relative rankings, may vary greatly from year to year as a result of sampling variability, particularly for smaller provinces. For example, data for P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador have a higher coefficient of variation, between 8 and 16 per cent (the coefficient of variation is between 4 and 8 per cent for most of the provinces). The data for Alberta also have a coefficient of variation of 8 to 16 per cent. There may be more variability in the figures reported for Alberta from year to year because fewer people are in low income in the province.

How do Canada and the provinces fare when it comes to child poverty and elderly poverty?

Using OECD data, we can examine performance on child and elderly poverty at the national level relative to the peer countries. But the OECD regional database reports on poverty only for the total population in each of the regions and does not collect data by age cohort. So, it is not possible to compare how the provinces fare relative to their international peers on child poverty and elderly poverty.

However, we are able to examine how the provinces do relative to one another using Statistics Canada's Canadian Income Survey data. Looking at Statistics Canada's low income measure (LIM) figures, we see that Alberta and P.E.I. had the lowest child poverty in 2014, the most recent year for which data are available, with poverty rates of 9 per cent. Manitoba and New Brunswick had the highest child poverty in 2014, using the LIM measure. At 22 per cent, Manitoba's child poverty rate is two-and-a-half times the rate in top-ranked Alberta.

The child poverty rate for Canada as a whole was 14.7 per cent in 2014. The national child poverty rate has been relatively constant for the past several decades, fluctuating between 14 and 17 per cent over the years.

Looking at OECD data (comparable data are not available at the regional level), we see that Canada's child poverty rate relative to its peer countries is high. In fact, Canada has the second-highest poverty rate among the 16 peer countries-only the U.S. does worse.

When it comes to elderly poverty, Alberta is once again the top performer among the provinces, with a poverty rate of only 4 per cent in 2014. Ontario has the second-lowest elderly poverty rate among the provinces, at 9.2 per cent in 2014.

The Atlantic provinces are on the other side of the spectrum. Almost one-fifth of the population 65 and older in P.E.I. and Nova Scotia was in poverty in 2014 (using the LIM data), while Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick had elderly poverty rates of 23.5 per cent and 21.6 per cent, respectively.

The national elderly poverty rate was 12.5 per cent in 2014. Between the late 1970s and mid-1990s, the elderly poverty rate dropped steadily, from over 30 per cent in 1977 to just under 4 per cent in 1995. However, the late 1990s through to 2011 saw increasing elderly poverty. The rate then dropped slightly in 2012 and 2013, before edging up again in 2014.

Canada's performance relative to its peers is much better when it comes to poverty among the elderly population than it is for child poverty. Among the 16 countries, Canada has the fifth-lowest elderly poverty rate, ranking behind the Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Norway.

Do poverty rates vary by gender?

Poverty rates have remained higher for women than men over the years, and the difference is particularly notable for the elderly populations. In 2014, the overall poverty rate was 13.5 per cent for women and 12.5 per cent for men. For those aged 65 years and older, the poverty rate was 14.4 per cent for women and 10.3 per cent for men-a difference of just over 4 percentage points.

Children raised in single-parent families headed by women are particularly vulnerable. In 2014, the poverty rate in Canada for children under 18 raised in single-parent families headed by women was 45 per cent.

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Is the low income measure the best way to assess poverty?
No. It is one way to assess poverty. The low income measure (LIM) is often used when making international comparisons. With the LIM, the poverty rate is calculated as the share of the population whose income is less than 50 per cent of the median family income in a given year. It is a relative measure that gives us information on how people are doing with respect to the median income of the general population.

The low income measure does not indicate whether people are able to meet basic human needs of food, clothing, and shelter. Furthermore, given that the median income in a region changes from year to year, the poverty threshold changes, according to the LIM, from year to year as well. This can be confusing to interpret during recessions when the median income falls, because incomes for those at the bottom may fall by less-so relative poverty could actually decline during a recession. Also, the LIM, by definition, implies that there will always be a share of the population in poverty-poverty will always exist according to this measure because there will always be people with income less than 50 per cent of the median family income.

Statistics Canada's low income cut-off (LICO) is another relative measure of poverty. The LICO is the income level below which a family would devote at least 20 percentage points more than the average family of their income to food, clothing, and shelter.12 People are said to be in the low-income group if their income falls below this threshold.

For example, if the average family in a region spends 43 per cent of their after-tax income on food, shelter, and clothing, then the LICO would be 63 per cent. In other words, a family would be considered to be in poverty if 63 per cent or more of their income was being spent on these three basic needs.

Unlike the LIM, the LICO takes into account not only income but also the basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing. The 20 percentage point threshold is arbitrary, however. Also, the LICO is based on 1992 spending patterns. The LICO for a given year is calculated by multiplying the 1992 LICO by the consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate. Spending patterns have likely changed significantly in the past 20 plus years, particularly given technological advancements and increased use of and dependence on the Internet. So, it does not seem realistic to select a poverty threshold based on 1992 spending figures.

Statistics Canada also produces low-income data using the market basket measure (MBM) approach, based on concepts developed by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. The MBM is a measure of the disposable income a family would need to be able to purchase a basket of goods that includes food, shelter, transportation, and other basic needs. The MBM is different from the other low-income measures in that it is more sensitive to "geographical variations in the cost of many typical items of expenditure."13

While the LIM has drawbacks, the advantage of this relative measure is that it takes into account the issue of social exclusion. To fully participate in society, people need resources that are not too far below the norm in their community. Falling behind the average means exclusion from the normal life of society. Also, according to research based on data from the World Values Survey, changes in relative income have a much larger impact on happiness than do changes in absolute income.14 Finally, the LIM allows for international comparisons.

Three Ways to Measure Poverty

Low income measure (LIM): the poverty line calculated as 50 per cent of the median income of the population in that country or region

useful for international comparisons

takes into account the issue of social exclusion

gives no indication on whether the population is able to meet its basic human needs of food, clothing, and shelter

changes from year to year (as median income changes)

may send unclear messages about poverty during recession periods

implies, by definition, that poverty will always exist

Low income cut-off (LICO): the income level below which a family would devote at least 20 percentage points more than the average family of their income to food, clothing, and shelter

The LICO is based on 1992 spending patterns. The LICO for a given year is calculated by multiplying the 1992 LICO by the consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate.

takes into account spending on basic needs: food, clothing, and shelter

uses an arbitrary cut-off

is based on decades-old spending patterns

does not take into account regional differences-e.g., differences in housing costs

Market basket measure (MBM): the disposable income a family would need to be able to purchase a basket of goods that includes food, shelter, transportation, and other basic needs

takes into account spending on basic needs

takes into account geographical variations in the costs of items

cannot be used for international comparisons

does not reflect social exclusion

A criticism of both absolute and relative poverty concepts is that they are focused only on income and consumption. They reflect either the income perspective or the basic needs perspective, but not the "capability (or empowerment) perspective." A definition of poverty must also reflect a "lack of some basic capability to function" and should take into account not only the economic side but also social, political, and cultural aspects.

Does performance over time and relative provincial performance vary greatly among the different poverty measures?

The LIM, LICO, and MBM produce different figures on the share of the population living in poverty. In 2014, according to each measure, the following numbers of Canadians were living in low income:

LIM-4.5 million people (13 per cent of the population)

LICO-3 million people (8.8 per cent)

MBM-3.9 million people (11.3 per cent)

The three measures also tell different stories over time:

The LIM data show the poverty rate falling between 1976 and 1989, rising from 1989 onwards, and then falling slightly in recent years. Overall, however, according to this measure, there has not been much of a change in the poverty rate since the late 1970s.

The LICO data show the poverty rate falling similarly between 1976 and 1989, but rising more sharply from 1989 to 1996 before falling again from the late 1990s onwards.

The MBM data are available only from 2002 onwards, but according to this measure as well, the poverty rate has been trending downwards.

When comparing provincial poverty rates, each measure presents different results. In 2014, according to Statistics Canada's LIM data, Alberta had the lowest poverty rate among the provinces by a large margin, followed by Saskatchewan. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Manitoba had the highest poverty rates that year, according to the LIM figures.

Conversely, the LICO presents P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador as having the lowest poverty rates in 2014, while Ontario, B.C., and Manitoba had the highest rates.

Finally, the MBM, like the LIM, presents Alberta as the province with the lowest poverty rate in 2014, followed by Quebec and Saskatchewan. According to MBM data, Nova Scotia and B.C. had the highest poverty rates that year.

What are Canada and the provinces doing to reduce poverty?

The federal government announced its commitment to developing a national poverty reduction strategy in 2016. The government plans to engage Canadians across the country in developing the strategy through "in-person roundtables with Indigenous organizations, businesses, community organizations, academic experts and, notably, Canadians who have a lived experience of poverty." Individuals and organizations will also be able to submit their ideas online and participate in discussion forums and online townhalls with the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development.

When developing a poverty reduction strategy, the fact that certain groups are more at risk of poverty than others and that poverty affects diverse groups in different way must be taken into consideration. Women, in particular single parents and single elderly women, are more greatly affected by poverty. People with disabilities, Indigenous people, visible minorities, and recent immigrants are also disproportionately affected by poverty. Finding ways to address the gender wage gap, immigrant wage gap, and racial wage gap is a start.

Actual targets for poverty reduction are not easy to establish, given that there is no consensus on the best way to measure poverty. So, a first step will be to determine an appropriate measure of poverty. The federal government has indicated that it plans to solicit feedback and draw on expertise from the provinces and territories on how to improve the measure of poverty.

In addition to announcing its plans to develop a national poverty strategy, the federal government announced initiatives in 2016 to help reduce poverty in Canada. The Canada Child Benefit was introduced, which provides up to $6,400 per year for eligible children under 6 years of age and $5,400 per year for eligible children aged 6 to 17. Measures to address elderly poverty include increasing the Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement top-up for low-income seniors by $947 per year and cancelling the age of eligibility increase from 65 to 67. The government is also investing $200.7 million to increase affordable housing for seniors. Poverty among people with disabilities is being addressed at the national level by developing accessibility legislation. Improving accessibility in the workplace will improve employment prospects and, hence, incomes for people with disabilities.

A number of initiatives have been introduced to address poverty among Aboriginal populations. On the education front, starting in 2016-17, the government is investing $2.6 billion over five years for primary and secondary education on reserves and $969 million for school infrastructure on reserves. The government is also developing "an Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework that recognizes the need for access to affordable, quality child care that is culturally appropriate for Indigenous parents and children." With respect to housing, $554.3 million is to be invested over two years to improve housing conditions and reduce crowding in First Nations communities, and $177.7 million will be invested to help with urgent housing needs in Canada's Northern and Inuit communities.

At the provincial level, almost all the provinces, except B.C. and P.E.I., have a poverty reduction strategy. Saskatchewan introduced its first Poverty Reduction Strategy in 2016, which set a target to reduce the number of people in poverty in the province for two years or more by 50 per cent by the end of 2025. The strategy focuses on six areas: income security, housing/homelessness, early childhood development, employment, and health/food security.

There is growing interest in the notion of implementing a basic income guarantee (also known as guaranteed annual income) to reduce poverty. With a basic income guarantee, all residents receive an unconditional sum of money each year. A few provinces are looking into implementing basic income pilot projects. Ontario intends to introduce a plan for a pilot by April 2017. In December 2016, P.E.I.'s legislature passed a motion to start working with the federal government to implement a universal basic income pilot project. There is also interest in pursuing a basic income guarantee in Quebec; in January 2016, Premier Philippe Couillard appointed François Blais as the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity and tasked him with improving the province's income support instruments "in the direction of a guaranteed minimum income."

1 OECD, Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion Through Work, Policy Brief (Paris: OECD, 2005).

2 World Bank, World Bank Open Data (accessed January 24, 2017).

5 For example, in calculating disposable income, the OECD subtracts both income taxes and payroll taxes, whereas Statistics Canada subtracts only income taxes. Also, in the OECD figures, household income includes the value of goods and services produced for own consumption as an element of self-employment income. This is not the case with the Statistics Canada data. Furthermore, OECD sets any negative components of market income (e.g., negative investment income) to zero, whereas Statistics Canada includes the negative figures.

6 Statistics Canada, National Household Survey, Number and Distribution of the Population Reporting an Aboriginal Identity and Percentage of Aboriginal People in the Population, Canada, Provinces, and Territories, 2011.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

14 Richard Ball and Kateryna Chernova, "Absolute Income, Relative Income, and Happiness," Social Indicators Research, 88, 2 (2007), 497.

18 Ibid., 19.

21 Ibid., 26.

22 Ibid.

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Poverty + Version française Key Messages Putting poverty in context The overarching goal of the Conference Board’s How Canada Performs…

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This link had information on the "life cycle" of poverty.

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Poverty was discovered on a global scale soon after world war II ended. Before 1940 is wasn’t that big of an issue and not many people noticed it. Since around 1948 we have noticed the growth in which poverty is increasing. It is alarming and many more people are working towards solutions such as the United Nations.

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The discovery of poverty
How ‘the poor’ were invented by the West... How the development idea was rescued
from its first crisis... The vital difference between frugality and destitution.

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This website talks about the past and current poverty rates as well as how poverty has been effected by recent world events.

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Poverty has gotten worse over the last couple years due to covid and the war in Ukraine. They both made many people loose their jobs, businesses and homes due to not enough space, time, and money. It has also gotten worse due to food shortages and the climate crisis. The initial goal of ending extreme poverty by the year 2030 now seems out of reach. Right now if we start working really hard to reduce the poverty rate we can have an almost poverty free world. This just won't happen before 2030. In other words poverty won't stop if we don't do something soon.

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We are at a critical juncture today in the fight against poverty. Despite decades of hard-won development progress, a world free of poverty remains out of sight.

Ten years ago, the outlook appeared more positive. The world had experienced a prolonged period of sustained reduction in global extreme poverty, beginning in the early 1990s. Between 1990 and 2013, more than one billion people escaped extreme poverty. The extreme poverty rate fell from 37.8% to 11.7%.

However, starting around 2014, the speed at which poverty was declining began to slow down. Between 2014 and 2019, poverty was declining at a rate of only about 0.6 percentage points per year, and the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 was looking increasingly out of reach.

As we all know, in 2020, this progress was abruptly halted. Several major overlapping crises - the COVID-19 pandemic, climate shocks, unexpected conflict, and rising food prices - led to three years of lost progress between 2020 and 2022. The global poverty rate is now back to pre-pandemic levels globally, but low-income countries, the most impacted, have yet to recover.

What does this mean for real people? It means that around 700 million human beings around the world are trying to survive today on less than $2.15 dollars per day (the international extreme poverty line). It means that 700 million people do not have enough income to meet even their very basic needs. More than half of them are children.

Millions more people live without adequate access to health, education, housing, water, or electricity - they are deprived not only of essential needs, but also of opportunity, hope, and basic dignity.

The World Bank's very first World Development Report -released 45 years ago in 1978-defines absolute poverty as "a condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality, and low life expectancy as to be beneath any reasonable definition of human decency."

Indeed, poverty is multidimensional, so our efforts also must be coordinated, intersectoral efforts. Thus, we must use the idea of multidimensionality as a tool to coordinate policy action. We need to work more effectively across sectors to ensure that the right set of policies are reaching households to jointly tackle these intertwined challenges.

Fueling inclusive economic growth will be an important factor in accelerating poverty reduction efforts. But inclusive growth is not a given; it is a policy choice. In the long-term, sustained poverty reduction will only be possible if policies work to invest in the productive capacity of the poor.

This requires a focus on lifting the constraints that too many poor households face in accessing better quality jobs. When thinking about jobs, we tend to focus on investments in human capital-such as expanding access to good quality education and health. These are of course very important.

However, we must also support poor households to accumulate and use other types of productive assets, such as natural capital and financial capital. This may mean, for example, environmental investments to improve soil quality, or infrastructure investments to expand access to agricultural markets, or laws to enhance gender equality in land titling, and digital technologies to include people in financial markets.

Finally, hundreds of millions of poor people are vulnerable to shocks. They live in areas that are highly exposed to extreme weather events such as floods, cyclones, drought or extreme heat. And millions more are vulnerable to falling into poverty as a result of such events. Urgent action is needed to reduce the impact of climate shocks.

Governments should aim for policies that are " triple wins " - policies that improve the livelihoods of the poor today, reduce their vulnerability to climate risks tomorrow, and help to mitigate future climate hazards.

In fact, climate action - if we get it right - can be an opportunity for inclusive growth. The transition to a more sustainable growth model could potentially improve the lives of millions of poor people.

With all that we have learned in recent decades, we have a chance to make a real difference going forward. A world free of poverty on a livable planet is in our line of sight. But it can only happen if we take action now.

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Luis Felipe López-Calva is the World Bank Global Director for Poverty and Equity.

Follow Luis Felipe on X (Twitter): @LFLopezCalva

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Related: World Bank - Poverty and Equity

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Ending Poverty is our First Global Goal, and We are Off Track

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We are at a critical juncture today in the fight against poverty. Despite decades of hard-won development progress, a world free of poverty remains out of sight. Around 700 million people around the world are trying to survive today on less than $2.15 dollars per day (the international extreme poverty line).

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The current poverty rate is about 46.9% (Very bad). That means almost half of the world population is living in poverty. That is very sad. The decrease in the poverty rate was going very well and it was looking like we were going to reach our goal but then many world affecting crisises happened at the same time such as covid and the multiple wars going on.

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This website has a lot of statistics on past and present poverty rates.

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The poverty rate has been very shakey lately. It has increased then decreased over the past couple years.

These are exact statistics taken from the website above.

"World poverty rate for 2022 was 45.50%, a 0.8% decline from 2021.

World poverty rate for 2021 was 46.30%, a 0.9% decline from 2020.

World poverty rate for 2020 was 47.20%, a 0.8% increase from 2019.

World poverty rate for 2019 was 46.40%, a 1.1% decline from 2018."

- Macrotrends.net

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Poverty headcount ratio at $5.50 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $5.50 a day at 2011 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

World poverty rate for 2022 was 45.50%, a 0.8% decline from 2021.

World poverty rate for 2021 was 46.30%, a 0.9% decline from 2020.

World poverty rate for 2020 was 47.20%, a 0.8% increase from 2019.

World poverty rate for 2019 was 46.40%, a 1.1% decline from 2018.

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Poverty headcount ratio at $5.50 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $5.50 a day at 2011 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

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This short video is from the UN about poverty statistics.

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Canada is working to make long term investments into fields such as clean water, housing, transportation, health, skills and employment, early learning and childcare. This will help improve many different aspects of poverty. These funds will go toward people living in poverty to imporve their quality of life.

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Employment and Social Development Canada

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Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy

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Canada is a prosperous country, yet more than 1 in 10 Canadians live in poverty. The vision of Opportunity for All--Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy is a Canada without poverty, because we all suffer when our fellow citizens are left behind.

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There are many things you can do to help resolve the issue of poverty. Some of these things include:

Educating children on the issue/ making sure everyone gets a good education.

Provide clean water for other people/ buy water cleaners for on walks.

Improve childhood nutrition - Make sure your children have healthing and filling meals

Support/ help out with enviromantal iniatives and programs.

Reach children in conflict through presents or nice messages - You could also do foster care for children from war torn countries.

The website above explains more in depth and includes extra solutions that I didn't include.

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The World Bank forecast that in 2021, severe poverty would increase to between 143 million and 163 million people. Even here in Canada, poverty rates are on the rise.

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This video talks about poverty's projected percent in the future and what we can do to resolve this big issue.

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Global Progress in Reducing Extreme Poverty Grinds to a Halt | Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report

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The United Nations article on ending poverty is a very interesting read. It is perfect if you are curious about this topic. I got most of my information from this website but I can't add the link.

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Being without or not having something.

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Only having a little of something each time to allow it to last longer.

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Treating someone badly because they are different that you by race, age, ethnicity, etc.

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Treated as if they don't matter or are insignificant.

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Likley to suffer from.

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Not having enough water for everyone to thrive.

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This video shows what life is like for some people living in extreme poverty.

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🇵🇭 One in five people in Philippines live in extreme poverty | Al Jazeera English

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Occurring at the beginning.

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I believe that poverty is a ginormous issue that everyone should work together to solve. It will be a hard problem to slove becasue of the many complicated parts to it. For example, there is the issue of not enough water (water crisis) that is affecting poverty. This issue will be hard to solve because of the resources and people it will take to share water across the globe. Even though it is a challenge, it is possible for everyone to make this idea a reality. Solving poverty will take a great number of people, resources and a lot of willpower. I never realized that there was so much poverty in Canada. After doing this research I have decided I will definetly find ways I can help out. Overall, I think everyone can do their part little by little to help solve the problem of poverty.

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Poverty and the Global Village - Reflection Part 2 of 3

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Poverty and the Global Village - Reflection Part 2 of 3

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The global village should be doing way more to adress the issue of poverty because it affects everyone. There should never be someone in the global village that is without the necessary resources to survive. Even if you aren't affected by poverty now, you could be in the future. This is why everyone in the global village should work to put measures in place that help people in poverty sustain a decent standard of living. I believe the global village should be doing more to adress poverty because it affects so many across the globe. Poverty can be found in places such as Africa and the Philipines. It can also be found very close to home in parts of Canada. There are many things that the global village can do to adress poverty such as sharing resources with the people who are less fortunate than you. This can include donating clothing, making food for the homeless, or even giving someone some a little money every once and a while. Overall, I believe the global village could be doing way more to help those suffering from poverty.

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Affects of Action and Consequence of Inaction - Reflection Part 3 of 3

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Affects of Action and Consequence of Inaction - Reflection Part 3 of 3

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Some affects of action will be the global poverty rate lowering as it was before covid hit. There will also be more happiness in the world because less people will be stressed out about money and daily food as well as other costs. Less people getting mental disorders might also be an affect of action because less people will be anxious and depressed about not having a good living situation. On the other hand, there are also many consequences of inaction. One consequence is the global poverty rate rising like it did during covid because more people ended up in poverty. There would also be even more people that are dying due to hungar related illnesses every day. The worst consequence is children are usually the ones who die from these illnesses because they are still growing and need more food than adult. Malnutrition is a big consequence of poverty. These consequences of inaction show us that we should be doing more to solve the issue of poverty. The affects of action show us what the world could look like if no one was living in poverty. We have a lot of work to do if we are going to bring the global poverty rate down but I believe we can do it if everyone works together.