Transcript Actually what is poverty …. Poverty is the lack of basic necessities that all human beings must have: food and water, shelter, education,

Actually what is poverty ….
Poverty is the lack of basic necessities
that all human beings must have: food
and water, shelter, education, medical
care, security, etc. A multi-dimensional
issue, poverty exceeds all social,
economic, and political boundaries. As
such, efforts to alleviate poverty must be
informed of a variety of different factors.
Just under 1 in 4 people in the UK – or nearly 13
million people – live in poverty, in the UK
according to the latest figures. This includes
nearly 1 in 3 children (almost 4 million).
Over 10.5 million people live in financial
insecurity: they can’t afford to save, insure their
house contents, or spend even small amounts on
themselves. About 9.5 million can’t afford
adequate housing – heated, free from damp,
and in a decent state of decoration. The crucial
factor about these findings is that they are based
on a survey of what the general population sees
as necessities.
We also know what a dark shadow poverty
casts, particularly over children’s lives and their
futures. Eighteen per cent of children go without
two or more items that the majority of the
population says are necessities, such as
adequate clothing, toys, or three meals a day.
Children from poor homes are more likely
to die as a baby or a child, and have lower
life expectancy overall. They also have a
greater likelihood of bad health, a greater
risk of unemployment, and a lower chance of
high educational achievement.
One in five non-working families on low
or moderate incomes reported being
unable to afford some basic food items
on most days in 2000.
Poverty is likely to last longer for young children
in particular.Overall, a recent survey found that
about half of all individuals in the bottom fifth of
income spent 6 or more years there out of ten.
Whilst people do move out of poverty, many do not
move very far, and many more experience poverty
sometimes.
Long-term poverty can eat away at people’s
savings and assets, leaving them more vulnerable:
between 1979 and 1996, the number of
households without any assets doubled to 1 in
10.It costs more to borrow money if you don’t have
much to begin with.
Groups in the UK at greater risk of poverty include
women, as well as children: nearly 1 in 4 women
lived in poverty in 1999/2000, compared with 1 in
5 men – even before taking account of the ‘hidden
poverty’ that may exist in households where income
and other resources are not shared fairly.
Minority ethnic groups in the UK are often
more vulnerable to poverty, in particular
Pakistanis/ Bangladeshis, more than twothirds of whom were living in poverty in
2000/01. Some groups, such as asylumseekers, also have to live on lower benefit
levels.
Just under two-thirds of individuals in
households containing adults of working
age who had no paid work were living in
poverty in 2000/01. And those in some
regions were much more likely to be poor than
those in other areas
“Bigger percentages have been
poor, and poverty has been
more severe, in the past; but
because of the larger
population, more people live in
poverty today measured by the
standards of today.”
‘Poverty strips you of your dignity.’
‘Poverty affects your self-esteem, your
confidence … You feel totally powerless.”
People living in poverty the world over often feel
their voice is not heard and their dignity is not
respected. The public in the UK has tended to
be more judgmental about those living in
poverty than people in many other countries –
being more likely to say, for example, that poverty
is due to ‘laziness and lack of will-power’, rather
than to ‘injustice in our society’
They also often think that many people on benefit
have enough money to live on; but when they are
told the actual amounts (£53.95 per week for
everything except housing costs and council tax
for a single unemployed person, for example),
they are more likely to acknowledge the existence
of real poverty amongst this group.
Also, the experience of unemployment and
poverty amongst friends and family tends to
make people more likely to see poverty as
primarily due to structural reasons, rather
than the fault of individuals themselves.
What is the government doing about it?
The prime minister has set out his commitment to ending child
poverty in a generation.The numbers of those living in poverty
have started to decline over recent years. But there is still some
way to go to make a significant impact on the dramatic increase in
poverty and inequality in the UK since the late 1970s.
As the Labour government has started to recognise, one of the
crucial ingredients in tackling poverty is public support.
Recognition and understanding amongst the general public of the
seriousness of the problem, and a determination to do something
about it, will be essential to a sustainable long-term strategy to
eradicate poverty in the UK.
Income
The most commonly used threshold of low income is 60% of
median income. In 2002/03, before deducting housing costs,
this equated to £194 per week for a couple with no children,
£118 for a single person, £283 for a couple with two children
and £207 for a lone parent with two children.
In 2002/03, 12.4 million people were living on incomes below
this income threshold. This represents a drop of 1½ million
since 1996/97.
The numbers of people on relative low incomes remained
broadly unchanged during the 1990s after having doubled in the
1980s.
In 2002/03, there were 8 million people on incomes below the
fixed threshold of 60% of 1996/97 median income. This
represents a drop of 6 million since 1996/97.
Half of all people in social housing are on low incomes
compared to one in six of those in other housing tenures.
Work
In 2004, there were 2.3 million people who wanted to be in
paid work but were not, compared to 3.5 million a decade
previously. This rate of reduction is much less than the rate
of reduction in ILO unemployment because the numbers who
are 'economically inactive but would like work' have
remained unchanged.
Two-fifths of all lone parents do not have paid work.
Around ½ million young adults aged 16 to 24 were
unemployed in 2004 (around 10%). Numbers have reduced
by two-fifths since a decade ago but young adult
unemployment rates two-and-a-half times higher than those
for older workers.
Two-fifths of those getting work are out-of-work again within
six months. A third of temporary employees would like a
permanent job.
People without qualifications are three times less likely to
receive job related training compared with those with some
qualifications.
Low pay
5½ million adults aged 22 to retirement were
paid less than £6.50 per hour in 2004.
1.2 million 18- to 21-year-olds were paid less
than £6.50 per hour in 2004. 300,000 were
paid less that the full adult minimum wage.
Around 14% of working age households are
now in receipt of tax credits. In total, more than
three times as many people are now in receipt
of tax credits as were in receipt of Family Credit
a decade ago.
Education
11-year-olds: The proportions failing to achieve level 4 or
above at key stage 2 in English and Maths have fallen
substantially in recent years but children in schools with
relatively high numbers on free school meals continue to do
much worse than other schools.
16-year olds: In 2003/04, around 25% of pupils (170,000
pupils) got no grades above a D at GCSE. This compares
with around 30% (190,000) a decade previously. 12%
obtained less than 5 GCSEs and 6% got no grades at all.
19-year-olds: 200,000 had no basic qualifications (without an
NVQ2 or equivalent) in 2004. This compares to 230,000 a
decade previously.
10,000 pupils were permanently excluded from school in
2002/03. This represents a fall of a quarter since the peak in
1996/97.
Child poverty
there are 3.6 million children living in poverty in the UK, that is one in
four children
the UK has the worst rate of child poverty in the European Union – a
third of Europe’s poorest children live in the UK
child poverty is three times higher than it was 20 years ago.
one in five children lives in a family where no one works at all.
children born into poor families are more at risk of being poor
themselves.
one in eleven 16 to 18 year olds are not in education, training or
employment.
children from poor backgrounds lag 14 per cent behind better off
children in educational development at 22 months.
diminished expectations of what their parents can afford lead children
in poor families to reduce their own hopes and aspirations for the
future
in the school holidays the complex webs of involvement and support
that is provided by schools and related agencies falls away from
children’s lives
Health
Scotland has by far the highest proportion of premature deaths for both
men and women.
Adults in the poorest fifth of the income distribution are twice as likely to
be at risk of developing a mental illness as those on average incomes.
Almost half of adults aged 45-64 in the poorest fifth of the population
have a limiting longstanding illness or disability, twice the rate for those
on average incomes.
Children from manual social backgrounds are 1½ times more likely to
die as infants than children from non-manual social backgrounds.
Babies from manual social backgrounds are 1 1/3 times more likely to
be of low birthweight than those from non-manual social backgrounds.
Teenage motherhood is six times as common amongst those from
manual social backgrounds as for those from professional backgrounds.
A quarter of women aged 25-64 are now obese compared to a sixth a
decade ago.
5-year-olds in Scotland, Wales and North West have, on average, twice
as many missing, decayed or filled teeth as 5-year-olds in the West
Midlands and South East.
Crime
The number of burglaries has fallen by almost a
half over the last decade. Young, lone parent and
unemployed households are twice as likely to be
burgled as the average household.
Households with no household insurance are
around three times as likely to be burgled as
those with insurance. Half of those on low income
do not have any household insurance compared
with a fifth for households on average incomes.
Housing
4/5% of people live in overcrowded conditions,
compared with 6% a decade ago. Overcrowding is more
than three times as prevalent in social rented housing as
in owner-occupation
Although poorer households remain more likely to lack
central heating, the proportion who do so is now actually
less than that for households on average incomes in
1996/97. Those living in the private rented sector are
the most likely to be without central heating.
The number of mortgage holders in serious arrears is
now at its lowest level for fifteen years.
105,000 households were in temporary accommodation
in 2004. This compares to 45,000 in 1997.
Ethnic minorities
People of Black Caribbean, Bangladeshi and African
ethnicity are twice as likely to be out of work and wanting
work compared with white people.
Although the rate of permanent exclusions for black
pupils has halved in recent years, they are still three
times more likely to be excluded than Whites.
Black young adults are seven times as likely as white
young adults to be in prison.
Black adults are more than twice as likely not to have a
bank or building society account as the population as a
whole.
Older people
The number of pensioners living in households below
60% of median income was 2.2million in
2002/03. This is 21% of all pensioners.
Older pensioner couples are much more likely to be on
low income than younger pensioner couples. The
same is not true for single pensioners
The proportion of elderly people aged 75 and over who
receive support from social services to help them live
at home is three-fifths what is was a decade
previously. County councils and unitary authorities
support far fewer households than either urban or
Welsh authorities.
TASK:
Either …
Looking at poverty in the UK
OR
Looking At Poverty Around The World
Write an essay about
Why Poverty Is Such A Big Problem?
TIP: Use
PEE
Point
Evidence
Explanation