The poor in developing nations are victims of their environment, often unable to escape the maelstrom of chaos, disease, corruption and apathy that impacts on them (Make Poverty History, 2005). Inequality still exists in these countries; there is a divide between the rich and the poor, a recent World Bank report indicates that the top 10% of Kenyans earn 47% of the national income leaving the remainder with insufficient money to purchase food able to meet the minimum daily calorie requirements of an adult male. Developing nations are less concerned by the disparity between rich and poor than developed nations are; the sheer volume of people in poverty makes this of minimal consequence. However developed nations often link the plight of the less affluent in society with the concept of social justice and equality. There has been a land shift in attitude towards poverty in developing nations, for example the origins of the British welfare state date back to 16th century Poor Laws primarily focused on maintaining public order (Harris, B 2004). Welfare provision in 2005 is about a partnership between state and individual, where it is the responsibility of the individual to help himself, while the state is there to provide opportunities and alternatives to the poverty many have had little chance to escape. This relationship between citizen and state is known as the ‘New Deal’ and it is recognition in the UK that poverty is related to inequality and lack of opportunity. Few people in developed societies such as Britain experience the problems that affect the poor in a developing nation. Poverty is therefore subjective and can be much more extreme in third-world countries than is possible to appreciate.
Despite the prevalence and extremity of poverty in developing nations, there are also examples of poverty in the developed world too. For example, it is anticipated that in the UK up to five thousand people a year sleep rough at some point (Shelter, 2005) and are unable to lift themselves out of poverty. In addition to this it has been revealed that the number of ‘have-nots’ in the UK, despite being the fourth wealthiest nation, is much larger than anticipated. Although state benefits ensure that the most vulnerable in society do not face starvation or homelessness, the average recipient of state benefit has to survive on £3 a day (Family Welfare Association, 2005). The situation is replicated throughout the developed world, as the events that followed in the wake of hurricane Katrina in September 2005 prove. Despite the USA being the richest nation on earth, the poor who could not escape New Orleans before the hurricane hit were left stranded and to fend for themselves. Predominantly poor black families were effectively left behind in this highly developed country, some 35% of black households lack a car, and were forced to cope with the flooding and civil disobedience that ensued (The Economist, 2005). Despite our affluence, in comparison to developing countries, there are many examples of how people experience real poverty and fall through the cracks of society in the developed world.
In 1999, Tony Blair made a pledge to end child poverty within twenty years in the UK. The first annual government report, Poverty and Social Exclusion, in the same year included 40 indicators of poverty. The sheer number of indicators demonstrates how hard it is to define poverty. The accepted view that households who live on half than average income are in poverty revealed that in 1995-96 almost one quarter of Britons were to be considered poor (The Economist, 1999). The research goes further to say that 4.6m children lived below the poverty line, which is about 34% of the total number of children in the UK at that time. Research shows poverty is increasing, for example in 1979 there were only 9% of households and 10% of children living on less than half average incomes. An alternative is to try and fix a poverty line which does not change as economies get richer - enough to meet a generally acceptable definition of basic necessities. The incomes of the poorest 10% of the population in 1995-96 were slightly lower, after housing costs, than those of their counterparts in 1979; when adjusted by inflation. However the indicators selected in 1999 show significant improvements since the mid-1990s in other areas. The proportion of working age people who live in a household where no-one works has fallen from a peak of 14.1 per cent in the mid-1990s to 11.8 per cent in 2002. The proportion of working age people without a qualification has also fallen, to 15.2 per cent in 2002. In 2000/2001, 30 per cent of children were living in households with relative low incomes, down from 34 per cent in 1996/97. In 1998, 50 per cent of single elderly households experienced fuel poverty, before housing benefit and income support for mortgage interest, down from 61 per cent in 1996 (National Statistics, 2005). With this method we can see that while things are improving there are still poor people in Britain, and that six years after Tony Blair’s pledge, child poverty has declined only by 4%.
It is not only economic hardship or the individuals and groups that fall through the system that indicate poverty in the developed world. The man who donated some money to a famine appeal and then turned off his television is very thankful he is not in the same circumstances. However, he has some troubles of his own, though not nearly to the same extent. He has comparative needs, he believes he needs a new car because the old one keeps breaking down and he has spent a fortune trying to fix it. He’d like to be able to spend more time with his children; but he doesn’t have enough hours in the day. Another thing dwells on his mind; his youngest child isn’t at a very good school, so he has to pay out for extra lessons because the school he wanted to send his child to is oversubscribed. His wife feels the same, but anyway she’s too exhausted to think about that now, she’s just come in from work, her salary is swallowed up by the bills from the old people’s home that cares for her elderly mother. Societies in the developed world create a different kind of poverty, where there is a deficit of time and people feel trapped - working longer hours for a diminished return. The 1997 British Social Attitudes survey showed that 62% of respondents were dissatisfied with their quality of life, citing many of the examples listed above. Poverty therefore comes in a number of guises affecting all members of society in different ways.
In conclusion, poor people are found the world over, not only in less developed nations. The level and density may be greater in the developing world but this does not support the argument that as a consequence poverty does not jostle against the affluence of developed nations. There have been several examples, such as the hurricane in New Orleans, that have replicated the levels of poverty and misery felt by developing nations, in developed countries. Poverty is subjective; it is reliant on individuals’ perceptions of how much of what they either want or need is available to them. It can affect anyone of us at some point, inflicted by external factors such as drought or famine, loss of income or by our liberty becoming suffocated or squeezed. All of these factors can make someone feel poorer than their neighbour and feel excluded from society. The current government has made significant steps towards limiting poverty in the UK, helping those who are cash-poor to greater opportunity. However, developed society must also create new ways to help individuals who may be cash-rich but time-poor, who feel there is no mechanism to cope with the pressures and demands of modern life. It is often quoted that the poor will always be with us, and I believe they will be found in every society where there is a finite amount of resource and an endless supply of wants and needs that can conflict with each other.
References
Bentham, J. (1796) cited in Harris, B. (2004) The Origins of the British Welfare State (ch. 14)
UNICEF website (2005) Why we do it. Available at http://www.unicef.org/ [Accessed 10 November 2005]
UN website (2005) Humanitarian Action. Available at http://www.un.org/ [Accessed 10 November 2005]
Make Poverty History website (2005) Why we need you. Available at http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/ [Accessed 10 November 2005]
World Bank Report (2000) cited in The Economist (print edition), 31 August 2005, A ticket to prosperity
Shelter (2005) Homelessness Fact sheet 2005, unpublished material. Available from Shelter direct
Family Welfare Association, (2005) cited in The Guardian Newspaper (print edition), 5 June 2005, £3 a day: the slim budget of Britain's hidden underclass
The Economist (2005), When government fails (print edition), 8 September 2005
The Economist (1999), Labour’s Crusade (print edition), 23 September 1999
National Statistics Website (2005), Poverty and social exclusion: Indicators of success in tackling poverty and social exclusion: Sustainable Development Indicators. Available at www.esds.ac.uk/government/bsa/ [Accessed 10 November 2005]
British Social Attitudes Survey (1997) cited in National Statistics Website, Reasons full-time employees were looking for a new job: by sex and presence of dependent children, 2003: Social Trends 34. Available at www.esds.ac.uk/government/bsa/ [Accessed 10 November 2005].
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