What is poverty?
Child poverty, as with poverty itself, is complex to define, and this is particularly the case when attempting to gain an holistic, world overview of the subject. The vast differences in socio-econmic resources and expectations from one nation to another prevents an all encompassing definition.
Definition
Governments, children's charities and commentators have no commonly accepted definition or measurement of child poverty nationally or globally. However, a generally accepted understanding is that any child living in any part of the world, who does not have access to a nutritional diet, basic health care, and a safe, secure environment, for economic reasons, is living in poverty.
UNICEF Measurement
Poverty in America
UNICEF uses infant and under-5-years mortality rate (U5CMR), as a key indicator of differences and changes in world poverty. Their statistical tables published in "The State of The World's Children 2010" compare and rate 193 countries across five years, from 2003 to 2008. The 2003 figures showed Sierra Leone as the country with the highest infant mortality rate and Afghanistan with the fourth highest. By 2008, Afghanistan ranked first and Sierra Leone ranked seventh. War, economics and politics play a role in the way that countries rise and fall in the UNICEF poverty rankings. The United States, ranked 157 out of 190 countries in 2003 had moved to 149 out of 193 in 2008.
U.S. Measurement
In the U.S., debate remains surrounding the statistics used to measure poverty. The National Center for Children (NCC) in Poverty claims that official U.S. poverty figures are flawed due to "low income" as a primary indicator. NCC indicates the number of children living below the poverty threshold vary according to source but range from 11.4 million to 29 million.
Poverty Threshold
Keeping an eye
The U.S. Census Bureau uses poverty threshold tables to calculate and define poverty. The calculation considers income and defines a measure of need or "dollar amounts used to determine poverty status." Each member of a family is assigned one of 48 possible poverty thresholds. The Census Bureau then computes several factors to see if the total family income is less than the threshold that would create poverty for a particular family.
The following example illustrates how an assessment is made:
• Family A: two children, mother, father and great-aunt.
• The Census Bureau determines that their threshold was $26,338 in 2008.
• The familly's income in 2008 were:
Mother: $10,000
Father: $7,000
Great-aunt: $10,000
First child: 0
Second child: 0
Total family income: $27,000
Since their income was greater than their threshold, Family A is not "in poverty" according to the official definition.
Worldwide View
According to Global Issues, the 2010 edition of " State of the World's Children" from UNICEF indicates the following statistics about child poverty around the world:
• 1 billion children are deprived of one or more services essential to survival and development
• 148 million under 5s in developing regions are underweight for their age
• 101 million children are not attending primary school
• 22 million infants are not protected from diseases by routine immunization
• 8.8 million children worldwide died before their 5th birthday in 2008
• 4 million newborns worldwide are dying in the first month of life
• 2 million children under 15 are living with HIV
• More than 500,000 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth
Tags: Census Bureau, million children, family income, mortality rate, poverty threshold
