What is Poverty ?

Poverty, by dictionary definition is the lack of something or

the state of being poor. It is a word that has a lot of meaning
depending on the context to which it is used or how it is
interpreted because lacking something is true for everyone. We
all have something that we lack. So, what does it take to be
considered as poor?

Organization have different notions of poverty. United Nation

defines it as The lack of income and resources to ensure a
sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger and
malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services,
social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of
participation in decision making.

In the Philippines, we define poverty in terms of absolute

poverty which "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of
basic 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."(UN 1995).

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), you

are considered poor if you fall below the Poverty Threshold or the
Poverty Line. It is the minimum income necessary to meet the
basic food and non-food expenditures. And according to PSA
roughly around a quarter of the Philippine population fell below
the poverty line. Based on the data they have gathered, a family
of five needs at least 8,778 pesos to meet the basic food and non-
food needs and needs an additional 2,370 pesos to get out of
poverty.