Author: haroonkhan

This Index measures the extent to which the distribution of income, or consumption expenditure, among individuals/households deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative percentages of recipients, starting with the poorest. The Gini Index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a…

In Romania, three different measures are used, namely Subsistence Minimum (SM), Decent Minimum of Life (DM), and Minimum determined by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (MM). Subsistence Minimum, in the Romanian context, is said to refer to ‘absolute’ poverty, to draw the poverty line (but here absolute is not the synonym of destitution). The DM is the equivalent of…

In Georgia, the Subsistence Minimum is calculated on the basis of a Consumer Basket, which is not the same as Food Basket. This includes, apart from the essential foodstuffs (thus excluding cigarettes, though they are a part of regular expenditure in most homes), other services and utilities. Since these utilities are shared by all members of the family, and…

In Hungary, the concept of Subsistence Minimum is further divided into two categories: Social Minimum and Survival Minimum. The Social Minimum is the income within which the fulfilment of basic necessities allows such a consumption of goods and services for which there is a mass social demand, albeit at a modest but socially acceptable level and quality. The Survival…

A more refined method is the computation of the Subsistence Minimum—a concept of the old Soviet methodology. This is also calculated in different ways. Some determine it in terms of the Food Basket. For each member of the household, an appropriate number of calories are allocated depending on the person’s age and sex, and then the cost for…

In these countries, a different technique is used to draw the poverty line. It is drawn in relation to Average Income. For example, in Russia, all the people who receive less than the average income are regarded as living below the poverty line. But these people are grouped into three categories depending on the distance between the…

The concept of Poverty line is also used here, but in a somewhat different sense. We know that this line differs from country to country depending upon the definition and the criteria used to delineate it. For making international comparisons, the World Bank decided to use US $1 (PPP)6 a day as the demarcation line: families spending one…

While there is a world-wide concern about the growth and spread of poverty, and an acknowledgement of its existence in practically all countries, developed or developing, capitalist or former socialist, there is no unanimity as regards its definition. People regarded poor in a given country may be considered rich when measured by the yardstick of…

The key question for social scientists is to evolve a methodology for identifying the poor, and another for indexing poverty. To quote Amartya Sen:   the requirements of a concept of poverty must include two distinct—but not unrelated—exercises, namely (1) a method of identifying a group of people as poor (‘identification’); and (2) a method…

As was said before, all regions and nations, whether rich or poor, have their population divided between rich and poor in comparative terms. For measuring poverty among the people, the unit is the family, and not caste or community. Each caste or community is stratified, according to its norms, into various socio-economic classes. Such classes…