An EU Free of Poverty is Possible
Building for a successful EU Year against poverty (2010)
Definitions of poverty
A multi-fold concept – It appears hard to provide a definition that reflects multiple and evolving faces of poverty. Yet the definition provided by the project “Mainstreaming Social Inclusion” can serve as a useful basis for debate: “The academic literature refers to a number of different types of poverty, such as:
• Relative poverty (at-risk-of-poverty): an individual’s, or group’s, living standard relative to the overall standard of living in the society they live in, considered within the European Union as having an income which is 60% or less than the national median income per adult equivalent;
• Consistent poverty: where an individual or group is excluded and marginalised from participating in activities which are considered the norm for other people and have problems of providing food, clothing, housing and other basics considered essential in the society in which they live. It is measured by a combination of income and what are considered basic necessities which are used to define indicators of deprivation;
• Absolute poverty: A condition characterised by severe deprivation of basis human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services (United Nation Report of the World Summit for Social Development: Copenhagen (March, 1995))”
