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WHAT IS POVERTY?
by Andres Võrk, 20.01.2009.a.

• Poverty is hunger
• Poverty is lack of clean drinking water
• Poverty is lack of housing
• Poverty is being sick and lack of opportunity go to the doctor
• Poverty is lack of opportunity to go to school
• Poverty is unemployment
• Poverty is the fear of the future
• Poverty is lack of opportunities and freedom



WHAT IS POVERTY?
by EAPN, www.eapn.ee

Lack of basic necessities

• “I can afford only cheap food; fruit and vegetables to feed children is too expensive; fish is not affordable; “healthy food” is too expensive for me”
• “The problem is not that we run out off money occasionally. The real problem is that we live our entire lives this way and our children grow up into this too”
• “In Spain the apartments for tourists are empty during the calm periods. On the other side there are a lot of homeless who have no roof above their head. How can we explain those injustices to our children?”
• “I cannot repair my broken TV”

• “I have lost friends as I cannot participate in their activities; even to participate in self-help groups needs money and time; I’m short of money and time to participate in discussions”
• “I cannot afford a daily paper; books, especially scientific literature is too expensive”

• “The system is too complicated, I don’t know where to get what”
• “I have slept in cardboard boxes. I had the choice to die on the street or to take back my life in my own hands. I went to social services with the question to help me to find a house. I was confronted with an enormous bureaucracy. I had to tell several times my story, each time again and it took years before I got a house.”
• “Every time I tell my life to civil servants I receive a lot of compassion, but rules prevent effective aid”

• “The way people look at you is humiliating. You are not considered a human being”
• “Sometimes you get the feeling that animals are better protected because if you beat a dog you will be sentenced and maybe put into prison whereas if you beat someone I am not sure that you will always be punished for that…. My feeling is that dogs are more respected and better treated than Gypsies.”
• “I don’t see any progress since years. I have no future.”
• “I feel a little bit like Don Quixote. I am fighting against windmills here and there and there is no real hope anymore”.

Lack of decent work

• “I have no work and no housing. How can I forn my life if I have no work?”
• “I must admit that to you that I work illegally and this is not because I think it is good. I am fully aware of the consequences, but this is the only way for me to get a job.”

• “It is impossible for me to invite the friends of my children at home, because my home is so small. So my children at their turn are not invited any more. Thus they become also excluded. We are obliged to lead a hidden life.”
• “My children cannot participate in school holidays for skiing or a language week abroad. Training for lifelong learning is not affordable. I cannot afford cultural activities”
• “My children will inherit my poverty.”

In terms of individuals, some key factors are seen as making a person more “at risk” of being in poverty such as:

• unemployment or having a poor quality (i.e. low paid or precarious) job as this limits access to a decent income and cuts people off from social networks;
• low levels of education and skills because this limits people’s ability to access decent jobs to develop themselves and participate fully in society;
• the size and type of family i.e. large families and lone parent families tend to be at greater risk of poverty because they have higher costs, lower incomes and more difficulty in gaining well paid employment;
• gender - women are generally at higher risk of poverty than men as they are less likely to be in paid employment, tend to have lower pensions, are more involved in unpaid caring responsibilities and when they are in work, are frequently paid less ;
• disability or ill-health because this limits ability to access employment and also leads to increased day to day costs;
• being a member of minority ethnic groups such as the Roma and immigrants/undocumented migrants as they suffer particularly from discrimination and racism and thus have less chance to access employment, often are forced to live in worse physical environments and have poorer access to essential services;
• living in a remote or very disadvantaged community where access to services is worse.

All these factors create additional barriers and difficulties, but should be seen within the overall structural context of how a particular country chooses to distribute wealth and tackle inequality.