What is Poverty?
Most of us probably think that we have a good idea of what the word ‘poverty’ means. If we really think about it though we may find that our understanding isn’t as clear as we might have first thought. What actually defines people as living in poverty? Is it not having enough to eat? Do we mean people that can’t afford health insurance? Is somebody who doesn’t have their own motorized transport to be considered poor? What about people who have plenty to eat but don’t own their own home? Is lack of opportunity a form of poverty? The more we try to define poverty the harder it can be to decide what it actually refers to.