In his final report to the UN, Philip Alston, the former Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and...
Poverty measurement
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03/10/2012
Gender a ‘prime factor’ in poverty in Europe
Gender is a prime factor in explaining why some people are at risk of poverty rather than others, according to new European study. The authors adopt a gender perspective on poverty – in terms of both income poverty and poverty as a multi-dimensional phenomenon.
Category: Reports -
14/09/2012
Study contradicts official USA poverty figures
Poverty in the USA has fallen by 12.5 percentage points over the past 40 years, according to a new paper – contrary to official government statistics showing a rise in the number of people in poverty. Researchers argue that a more accurate picture is given by looking at changes in consumption rather than income. They also advocate improved income measures that remove bias in official price indices. On the basis of these alternative measures, they conclude: 'We may not have won the war on poverty, but we are certainly winning'.
Category: Reports -
12/09/2012
Young People and the Legacies of Conflict, Mike Tomlinson
This paper, presented to the ASITIS Children of Conflict Conference on 26 March 2012, addresses the question of what has the Northern Ireland conflict got to do with the challenges we face in addressing the needs, rights and opportunities of our young people today, especially those who are out of work and detached from education and training.
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11/09/2012
Poor Britain
In Poor Britain (1985) Joanna Mack and Stewart Lansley set out the ‘consensual’ approach to poverty pioneered in the 1983 Breadline Britain survey. They introduce the concept of ‘socially perceived necessities’ and distinguish between those who lack necessities from choice and those who can’t afford them. They define poverty as ‘an enforced lack of socially perceived necessities’. Poor Britain is now out of print but you can download this influential book by clicking on the links below. We have provided both the full book, 324 pages, as one PDF, and each chapter and appendices as separate PDFs for download.
Copyright remains with J.H. Mack and S. Lansley. Please cite ‘J. Mack and S. Lansley (1985) Poor Britain, London, George Allen & Unwin’ if quoting from this book.
Poor Britain: whole book
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06/09/2012
Can poverty be measured with income satisfaction data?
It may be possible to track poverty by reference to data on income satisfaction, according to a researcher in Germany. He sets out the results of matching survey data against existing poverty measures, such as the European Commission's '60 per cent of median income' measure.
Category: Reports -
31/08/2012
Perceived necessities of life ‘strikingly consistent’
'Striking' consistency is found in the things that different groups of people perceive to be the 'necessities of life' in the UK today, according to a new study. The working paper – part of the Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK project – used focus groups to examine people's perceptions of poverty, social exclusion and living standards.
Category: Reports -
22/08/2012
Defining the Breadline: Is there a Northern Ireland Consensus? by Mike Tomlinson and Grace Kelly
The paper and presentation, presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly on 26 April 2012, report the findings of the Necessities of Life survey 2011 in Northern Ireland. The survey found a remarkable degree of consensus in respondents’ attitudes to necessities, between social groups and categories across income, occupation, community background and gender; though there are some significant differences, especially between young and old.
The results show that what most people think are necessities leads to a different set of indicators than those built into current deprivation rates (such as the EU measure). Mike Tomlinson’s contribution can be seen on the Northern Ireland Assembly website.
Category: Presentation -
17/08/2012
New Zealand
A presentation on poverty measurement in New Zealand was made by Bryan Perry, Ministry of Social Development, at the Second Peter Townsend Memorial Conference, Measuring Poverty: The State of the Art, in 2011.
The Ministry of Social Development in New Zealand has developed an Economic Living Standards Index (ELSI). This index is used to compare the material wellbeing of individuals and population subgroups but, in contrast to both the Townsend deprivation approach and the Mack and Lansley consensual method, the ELSI measures the full range of living standards rather than being just hardship-focused.
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17/08/2012
Australia
In 2014/15, the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey used a new set of questions to examine deprivation poverty. It found 10.7% of the population was in deprivation poverty defined as those who lacked two or more necessities because they couldn't afford them.
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17/08/2012
Mexico
People in Mexcio have a relative and a wide view of what should constitute a minimum standard of living, covering essential services such as a pension, nursery care and housing credit as well as durables such as a fridge and computer. Read more.
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