The big idea: Poverty is more than being 'short of money'. How we define it decides who we count as poor and how we try to help.
What poverty is a lack of
- The resources and opportunities people need to live a decent life
- Food, health, education and safety
- A say in their own future
Like development, poverty is contested. Is someone poor only if they cannot meet basic survival needs (absolute poverty)? Or also if they fall far below the normal standard of their society (relative poverty)? And is poverty just about income, or about whole lives?
- Absolute poverty — lacking the basics to survive (food, clean water, shelter), often set at an income line like a few dollars a day.
- Relative poverty — being far below the normal standard of your own society, even if you can survive.
- Income poverty — measured only by money.
- Multidimensional poverty — measured by health, education AND living standards together.
Poverty is about opportunities, not just cash: The modern view is that poverty is a lack of opportunities — being trapped without the health, education, safety or freedom to improve your life. Two people with the same low income can face very different poverty depending on their opportunities.
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Because poverty is more than income, the world now measures it in many dimensions at once — captured by the Multidimensional Poverty Index.
Case study — measuring multidimensional poverty: The MPI counts someone as poor if they are deprived across several of health, education and living standards — not just their income.
What the MPI reveals
- Some people above the income poverty line are still deeply poor (no schooling, no clean water, poor health).
- Poverty traps people across many parts of life at once.
- 'A few dollars a day' misses much of what poverty really is.
This matters politically: how you define and measure poverty shapes who gets counted, who gets help, and whether a government can claim 'poverty is falling'. Definitions are never neutral.
The key point: Poverty is a contested idea — absolute vs relative, and income vs multidimensional. The modern view treats it as a lack of resources and opportunities across whole lives, which is why measures like the MPI look beyond income to health, education and living standards.
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Should we focus on absolute poverty (survival) or relative poverty (fairness)? And is poverty best fixed by growth or by redistribution? Weigh it.
Why absolute vs relative matters
An absolute definition focuses on ending extreme survival poverty (a global priority); a relative definition says poverty persists wherever people are far below their society's norm — so even rich countries have poverty. Which you use changes the whole policy debate.
Poverty and inequality are linked
Where wealth is very unequally shared, growth can raise average income while many stay poor, so tackling poverty often means tackling inequality — the next micro — not just growing the economy.
Two perspectives — weigh them: One view: poverty means absolute deprivation, best cut by growth that lifts survival incomes. Another view: poverty is relative and multidimensional, needing opportunity and fairer sharing, not just growth. Strong essays evaluate both, often concluding both matter — end extreme poverty AND widen opportunity.
How poverty comes up in Paper 2: A Paper 2 essay might ask what poverty really is. Weigh income against opportunity, and absolute against relative poverty, then reach a judgement.
The 15-mark markband (what moves you up)
Bands 1–6
Mostly descriptive; perspectives not identified.
avoid
Bands 7–9
Clear knowledge, but perspectives identified, not explored.
7–9
Bands 10–12
Well-supported argument; perspectives explored.
10–12
Bands 13–15
Balanced, compelling; perspectives explored AND evaluated.
13–15
"Poverty is best understood as a lack of opportunities, not a lack of income." Discuss this view.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Common mistakes: 1. Defining poverty as only 'no money'. It is multidimensional.
2. No absolute-vs-relative distinction. It shapes the whole debate.
3. No real case. Use the MPI / extreme poverty.
4. Listing dimensions of poverty. Argue which one a policy should target first.
5. No judgement. Conclude on how poverty is best understood.