The UN defines poverty as living on less than $1 a day.
Most people at ProgressiveU are aware of the UN Millennium development goals, so they are also aware of the definition of “poverty,” but at the same time it is hard to really understand this definition.
One dollar can buy different things in different places, just ask anyone who has traveled to the UK. When you get to England one dollar becomes roughly half a pound. You can’t even buy a coke for half a pound. If you take your dollar to China it becomes a little more than 7 RMB, a sum for which you can eat a filling meal or two if you stretch it. With this in mind it is difficult to think of exactly what $1 per day means.
But it is really much simpler than you think.
The UN definition of poverty adjusts for purchasing power parity. This means that with the UN’s adjustments you can buy the same things for a dollar everywhere, so one dollar equals one coke, four packets of ramen noodles, or half a pint of ice cream regardless of where you live.
Now try to imagine living on one dollar a day. Food expenses alone would be hard to handle; you would end up eating a lot of empty calories from ramen noodles and rice. That hardly counts as a balanced, nutritional diet. But wait, what would you do about shelter? You can’t pay rent or buy a house for $30 a month. If you are lucky you have a family hut that has been passed down to you, but you can’t afford to fix the roof when it leaks. If you are not so lucky you will end up as a squatter on someone else’s land, maybe live in a cardboard box. The other necessities need to be taken care of as well: water won’t come out of a tap and it won’t be clean, there is no plumbing in your box, and you still need clothing of some kind.
There is no saving for the poverty stricken, so illness and other catastrophes are usually fatal. Loans will only come from loan sharks who charge exorbitant interest rates and leave you practically enslaved.
It is still difficult to fathom such a state, especially as you sit at your computer in your heated dorm room, but maybe this has helped you to understand poverty a little more.
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