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1. What is the definition of poverty?
Essentially, poverty refers to lacking enough resources to provide the necessities of life—food, clean water, shelter and clothing. But in today’s world, that can be extended to include access to health care, education and even transportation. In government circles, poverty is often further defined as “absolute poverty” and “relative poverty” (more on that below).
Every country has its own measure for poverty. However, a widely recognized authority on the topic of “extreme poverty” is the World Bank. The Bank keeps a metric called the International Poverty Line and, as of 2015, set the definition of extreme poverty as those who live on less than US$1.90 per day. (Those living on between $1.90-$3.10 per day are classified as the “moderate poor.”) This number is based on the monetary value of a person’s consumption rather than income alone.
Relative poverty is tricky.
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New Zealand does not have an official poverty measure. However, low-income thresholds or poverty lines can be used. The ‘fixed line’ measure anchors the poverty line in a reference year, then adjusts it each survey with the Consumer Price Index. The ‘moving line’ or ‘relative’ measure sets the poverty line as a proportion of the median income.
The fixed line measure (60 percent of median income) adjusted for housing costs indicated 15 percent of the total population lived in poverty in 2010, the same as in 2009. This ended a decline in poverty started in 1994. Child poverty rates were 22 percent from 2007 to 2010, following major falls from 2001. According to the MSD this was due to improving employment, income-related rents and WFF. Poverty rates for older New Zealanders (7 percent) were lower in 2010 than for any other age group (13 percent for 25 to 64 year olds and 22 percent for dependent children).
The poverty rate also remained unchanged on the moving line measure after adjusting for housing cost. The rate remained 18 percent from 2007 to 2010, as during the mid 1990s, but was double the 1984 rate. Based on OECD and European Union 2008-2009 figures, New Zealand’s population and child poverty rates were close to the overall medians.
(my bolding)