Poverty &
. Inequality
poverty
DR MOEEN UD DIN
October 14, 2024
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Poverty – Definition
• The word poverty comes from:
• Old (Norman) French word “poverte”
• Modern French: “pauvreté”
• Latin “paupertās” or ”pauper”
• Poverty is not having enough income/assets for a person’s needs.
Poverty may include social, economic, and political elements
October 14, 2024
3 Poverty – Types
• There are two types of poverty:
• Absolute poverty: It is defined as complete lack of the means
necessary to meet basic personal needs, such as food, clothing and
shelter.
• The threshold at which absolute poverty is defined is always about
the same, independent of the person’s permanent location or era.
• For example, a person needs 2000-2500 calories per day.
October 14, 2024
4 Poverty – Types
• Relative poverty: It occurs when a person cannot meet a minimum
level of living standards, compared to others in the same time and
place.
• Therefore, the threshold at which relative poverty is defined varies
from one country to another, or from one society to another (cycle
vs car).
• Income inequality is good example of relative poverty.
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Poverty – Types
• Secondary poverty: It refers to those people who have enough income
(not be impoverished), but they spend their income on unnecessary
pleasures, such as smoking, gambling, alcoholic beverages, etc. thus
placing themselves in poor people.
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6 People below Poverty Line (%)
• According to WB people earning less than $1.25 per day are called poor. (2018 data)
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7 Population Suffering with Hunger (%) (2013)
As of 2015 population, about 347.1 million poor people (35.2%) lived in Sub-
Saharan Africa and 231.3 million poor people (13.5%) lived in South Asia.
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8 Poverty in Pakistan
In Pakistan 24.3% people are living below poverty line based on head count ratio.
(2350 kcal/day)
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Poverty in
Pakistan at
District Level
Red: Very High Poverty,
Green: High Poverty,
Blue: Low Poverty
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Features of Poverty in Pakistan
• In Pakistan, rural poverty is high than urban poverty.
• Poverty is high in female headed households than male headed
household.
• Poverty is high in Baluchistan, followed by Sindh and KPK.
• Poverty is high in South Punjab than in North Punjab.
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Consequence of Poverty
• Poverty has some major consequences which include:
• No/less food to eat • insufficient opportunity
to better life
• Low levels of health & education
• Violence
• poor access to clean water
and sanitation • Crime
• inadequate physical security • Personality
• Lack of voice • Discrimination
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Causes of Poverty
• There are different causes of poverty in Pakistan, which include:
• Low level of economic growth • Poverty is due to unequal
• High income inequality distribution of production
• High population • War against terrorism
• Shortage of capital • Illiteracy/un-education
• High unemployment • Bonded labor
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Causes of Poverty
• Corruption/poor governance
• Large-scale import
• Poor law & order
• Political instability
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Solutions to Reduce Poverty
• Government can take many steps to decrease poverty in the country, which
include:
• Increase economic growth
• Reduce population growth
• Reduce income inequality
• Increase per capita income
• Control high inflation
• Provide Education & heath care (health insurance)
• Reduce unemployment
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Solutions to Reduce Poverty (Cont.)
• Increase investment (especially in housing as it employs unskilled labor force)
• Access to land/Provide land to tenants
• Provision of better financial services
• Empower women
• Provide social protection to the poor
• Improve governance (reduce corruption)
• Improve agriculture sector (Mechanization of agriculture)
• Promote industrialization (Use modern technology to increase production)
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THANKS
[Link]
