Poverty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 10

Poverty - Essay Example However, this definition lacks distinction because it does not include time and space. Living conditions that were considered normal twenty or thirty years ago might be defined as poor or belonging to poverty nowadays. In addition, a person considered poor in the United States or any other developed nation can belong to middle-class in a less developed nation. For these reasons, poverty needs to be redefined. Features like skin color, race and age can be characteristics of poverty in some countries. In addition, many governments and international institutions define poverty by classifying it in two forms, absolute and relative poverty. These differences and conditions increase the complexity of defining poverty. The current definition of poverty is superficial; all of the factors mentioned above have to be kept in mind to formulate a broader definition. Poverty is the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions in a certain point in t ime, and space, race, and age play roles in defining it. Traditionally, a person is considered poor if they have less than a certain amount of dollars to spend on a daily basis. Later, this classification was given the name poverty line. Taylor explains that The World Bank determines the poverty line based on a person having only $1 to $2 to spend on necessities each day (Taylor 200). Individuals living anywhere close to or under this line are trapped in a life of destitute and neediness. In the United States, a country with millions of poor individuals, the poverty line is calculated differently. It is based on the amount of money needed to buy basic nutrition to survive. Silverstein clarifies, â€Å"The poverty threshold is based on a minimum adequate diet, the USDAs Thrifty Food Plan. In 2004, a family of four with two preschool children would have been allotted $13.93 per day to meet its nutrition needs. That same year the poverty