3rd Lecture delivered under the course - Poverty and Environment taught at the Department of Environmental Management, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
2. • Poverty is a condition
where people's basic needs
for food, clothing, and
shelter are not being met.
• Poverty is generally of
two types:
• Absolute poverty
and Relative poverty
Poverty: Definition and descriptons
3. Rural Development
Lesson 2: Rural Poverty
• Absolute poverty occurs when
people cannot obtain adequate
resources (measured in terms of
calories or nutrition) to support a
minimum level of physical health.
(same everywhere, and can be
eradicated as demonstrated by
some countries)
• Relative poverty occurs when
people do not have the minimum
level of living standards as
determined by a government.
(varies from country to country,
sometimes within the same
country)
4. 4
Absolute Poverty
1. The absence of enough
resources (such as money) to
secure basic life necessities.
2. A condition characterized by
severe deprivation of basic
human needs, including
adequate food, safe drinking
water, sanitation facilities,
health, shelter, education,
information, & access to
services.
3. Synonym for extreme poverty.
6. 6
Relative Poverty
Definition
Inequality between groups.
Proportion of household earning in
incomes < 1/2 the mean/median
income.
Measured; income disparity ratio of
income groups ethnic, urban & rural.
In this system, if everyone's real
income in an economy increases, but
the income distribution stays the same,
then the rate of relative poverty will
also stay the same.
Example; households with an accumulated
income < 50% of the median income are
living in poverty.
8. Global Prevalence of Poverty
• The World Bank estimates that 702.1 million
people (9.6%) are living in extreme poverty in
2015, down from 1.75 billion (37.1%) in 1990.
• Of these 702.1 million people, about 347.1 million
people (35.2%) live in Sub-Saharan Africa and
231.3 million (13.5%) live in South Asia .
• UNICEF estimates half the world's children (or 1.1
billion) live in poverty.
• Another estimate places the true scale of poverty
much higher than the World Bank, with an
estimated 4.3 billion people (59 %) living with less
than $5 a day and unable to meet basic needs
adequately.
13. 13
Comparing Kinds of Poverty
• Relative vs. Absolute
• Objective vs. Subjective
• Urban vs. Rural
• Internal (personal) vs.
External (systemic) Causes
• Short-term vs. Long-term
• Clustered (wide-spread)
vs. Isolated
• Human Poverty
18. Objective vs. Subjective Poverty
• Asking people to report
whether their income is
sufficient; what level of
income would be
adequate to make ends
meet or to identify
themselves as poor.
• The percentage of
people whose income is
below a poverty line.
• The critical threshold of
income, consumption
or more generally
access to goods and
services below which
individuals can not
fulfill basic needs.
23. The Feminisation of Poverty
• In most countries poverty has a
female face: about 70 percent of
the 1.2 billion people living in
poverty are female.
• In many countries, the number of
women in poverty has risen
significantly over that of men over
the last two decades.
• Women are twice as likely as men
to be illiterate and significantly
more likely to suffer from poverty
related health conditions such as
iron deficiency anaemia and
protein-energy malnutrition.
24. The Elderly: A Traditionally Vulnerable Population
• Maintaining a viable income in the later years of life is an
issue with which many struggle.
• In many developing countries, retirement is a luxury that few
can afford.
• Approximately 40 percent of individuals over 64 years in
Africa and 25 percent in Asia are still in the workforce,
employed mostly in agriculture.
25. 25
Child Poverty – Sri Lanka
• Child Population( below 19 yrs.): approx. 7.2 mn (36.3%)
• Child Population 0-5 years: approx. 1.7 mn.
• Children attending pre-schools: around 80%
• Completion % of primary schools: over 95% (both boys and girls)
26. 26
Child Poverty – Sri Lanka
• Secondary enrolment % is 82.6 %
• Disabled children 0 -19 yrs – 55,500 (2001)
• Infant mortality rate 11.7 per 1000 live-births
• Under 5 mortality rate 13 per 1000 live-births
27. 27
Child Poverty – Sri Lanka
• Under-nutrition of children varies from 19- 29% for
wasting, stunting and underweight
• Immunization rate 96.5
• Maternal mortality rate – 18 per 100,000 live-births
28. 28
Child Poverty – Sri Lanka
• Internally displaced children living with parents with friends & family
(43,689 families) and in temporary shelter (7,800 families) (UNHCR
2008)
Children in voluntary homes (22,000 children)
Child domestic labour– Approx. 25,500 children between 5-14 years
engaged in economic activity (ad hoc studies)
Street Children about 10,000
29. POVERTY AND HEALTH
Poverty and ill-health: the vicious circle
Caused by;
Lack of income & knowledge,
Poverty in community-social norms, weak
institutions and infrastructure, bad
environment;
Poor health provision-inaccessible, lack of key
inputs, irrelevant services, low quality;
Excluded from health finance system-limited
insurance, co-payments
Characteristics of the poor
Inadequate service utilization,
unhealthy sanitary, dietary
practice etc.
Poor health outcomes
Ill health
Malnutrition
High fertility
Diminished income
Loss of wages
Costs of health care
Greater vulnerability to
catastrophic (disastrous)
illness
30. • Most of the illnesses associated with poverty are infectious
diseases, such as diarrheal illness, malaria, and tuberculosis.
• All of them are associated with the lack of income, clean water
and sanitation, food, and access to medical services and
education which are characteristics of poor countries and
communities.
31. • The diseases are linked to under-nutrition and children are most
susceptible to them .
• The environmental, social, and dietary changes produced by
industrialization and urbanization are leading to higher rates of
diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and respiratory illness
among both the urban poor and not so poor.
32. • Poor countries and poor
people suffer from multiple
deprivations that translate
into high levels of ill health
and disability.
• Poverty is an absolute
barrier to good health. It
impacts health by
influencing all other factors
adversely.
33. • The poor are more vulnerable to disease owing to, their lack
of access to promotive, preventive and curative health care,
nutritious food and financial resources.
• In addition, poor people are also more vulnerable to
environmental threats to health, such as polluted air and water,
which undermine the quality of their lives.
34. • Preventable and treatable diseases
therefore take an enormous toll on
the poorest people.
• Primarily in developing countries,
people die from eight vaccine-
preventable diseases.
35. • An estimated 1.7 million people in developing countries die
annually from diseases linked to unsafe water and sanitation
and poor hygiene.
• The vicious cycle of ill health has a greater impact where poor
people are generally not covered by adequate health insurance
44. Poverty Headcount Ratio at
the DS Level, Sri Lanka - 2005
The Head count ratio (HCR) is the
proportion of a population that exists,
or lives, below the 'poverty line'.
The poverty threshold, poverty limit
or poverty line is the minimum level of
income deemed adequate in a particular
area.
49. Estimates of Poverty Headcount Ratio by District, Sri Lanka
Province District 1990/91 1995/96 2002
(%) (%) (%)
______________________________________________________________________
Western Colombo 16 12 6
Gampaha 15 14 11
Kalutara 32 29 20
Central Kandy 36 37 25
Matale 29 42 30
Nuwara Eliya 20 32 23
Southern Galle 30 32 26
Matara 29 35 27
Hambantota 32 31 32
North Western Kurunegala 27 26 25
Puttalam 22 31 31
North Central Anuradhapura 24 27 20
Polonnaruwa 24 20 24
Uva Badulla 31 41 37
Monaragala 34 56 37
Sabaragamuwa Ratnapura 31 46 34
Kegalle 31 36 32
50. Accessibility Index,
Sri Lanka
The accessibility index is calculated
for every point as the sum of the
population of surrounding cities and
towns, inversely weighted by the
travel time on the road network to
each town.