What is Poverty?

Is the Poverty Line too low for China's population?

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What is Poverty?

Is China's Poverty Standard too low?

What is Poverty?

Poverty is often a touchy subject, not just in China, but all around the world. It's easy enough for us to concieve poverty- just close your eyes and imagine. To put this image into an absolute definition is extremely difficult. Even the UN recognizes that it is much harder to put poverty in terms of measurable standards. The challenge to draw a line between those in poverty and the poor seems to effectually exclude people who do need help.

Nevertheless, it is important to define poverty in order to deal with the problem effiectively and help those in need.

• According to the UN, poverty is "denial of opportunities and choices most basic to human development - to lead a long, healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent standard of living, freedom, dignity, self-esteem and respect from others."
• Factors usually discussed when regarding poverty are education, sanitation, availability of food and clean water, and employment
• The legal defintion of poverty is usually maintained as those living below the poverty line, yet income levels do not always correlate to standard of living.

Is China's Poverty Standard Too Low?

China has been criticized because its poverty line is well below the international standard for poverty. According to the Epoch Times, the poverty line is $0.2 (US Dollars) per person, per day. Per year, this amounts to $85 USD, or 680 yuan. The World Bank and international community usually regards $1/day as the standard for those living in poverty, per year this would be $365 USD. As you can see, there is a discrepancy between what the Chinese government classifies as poverty, and the international standard. China has never been willing to submit itself to an international survey.

According to China's standard, 23.65 million people are living in poverty, but according to the international standard, 120-135 million people, considered to be China's poor, are actually living in poverty. Should China choose to distinguish these people as living in a state of poverty?

A report by Sanjay G. Reddy and Camelia Minoiu at Columbia University, claims that variation in "alternative purchasing power parity conversion factors (used to convert an international poverty line), alternative estimates of the level and distribution of private incomes, alternative estimates of the propensity to consume of lower income groups, and alternative consumer price indices" could affect how poverty is percieved, and could therefore create a division between the statistics and the actual comparative standards of living in China. This means that the current method of calculating poverty might not be the most accurate.

Income distribution, although still based on income shows the growing disparities between the rich and the poor. This chart divides China's population into ten sectors, with the poorest 10% listed at the top and the richest 10% listed at the bottom, and lists what percent of the total wealth that each sector owns. This chart was taken from Institute For Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University.