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Healthify Blog

Five Dimensions of Poverty

by Healthify Team, on May 11, 2016 12:30:00 PM

The simplest definition of poverty is having little or no money, but a new report by
The Brookings Institution examines the problem beyond the metric of income.
 

What are the 5 Dimensions of Poverty?

Inspired by the mid-20th century work of British academic and civil servant William
Beveridge, the Institution took a close look in their April 2016 report at the nation's
poverty in five dimensions:

1. Low household income

2. Limited education
3. Lack of health insurance
4. Concentrated spatial poverty
5. Unemployment

Examining the 5 Dimensions of Poverty 

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"Poverty as a lived experience is often characterized not just by low income, but by ill
health, insecurity, discomfort, isolation, and lack of agency," the study's authors,
Richard Reeves, Edward Rodrigue and Elizabeth Kneebone wrote. 
 

 
 
Using American Community Survey data for 2014 to look at the general adult
population, the authors found that each dimension of poverty affects a range of 11 to
21 percent of people. The breakdown was 21, 15, 16, 19 and 11 percent for the
dimensions of low income, lack of education, no health insurance, poor area and
jobless family, respectively.
 
("Jobless family" means no one in the respondent's family is employed, including
himself or herself. This factor was designed to take into account the fact that the
unemployed, such as stay-at-home parents, aren't necessarily impoverished.) 
 
Nearly half the population faced at least one dimension of poverty, and nearly a
quarter faced at least two, with 9 percent and 2 percent facing at least 3 and at least
4 dimensions, respectively, according to the report.
 

Multidimensional poverty and race

Multidimensional poverty and race

 But what was perhaps the most interesting discovery in the report was "marked
differences" in multidimensional poverty rates between minorities and whites.
 
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"Most blacks and Hispanics are disadvantaged on at least one dimension; most whites
are not," the authors wrote. "Most whites who are disadvantaged on one dimension
are not disadvantaged on any others. By contrast, most African Americans and
Hispanics who are disadvantaged on one dimension are also disadvantaged on at
least one more."
 
The idea that different aspects of poverty viciously build on each other to the
concurrent detriment of those with little to no money is not surprising, but the data
that show how that manifests itself in racially disparate ways adds something to the
conversation.
 
Healthify's role in addressing multidimensional poverty is to provide the technology
that can efficiently connect vulnerable populations to social programs that can help
them achieve good health.
 

REQUEST A
DEMO

 
The hope is that Healthify can make progress in reducing the number of people
facing poverty, as well as the disparities that exist therein.

Topics: healthcare delivery health disparities public health

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About Healthify Insights

Healthify Insights is an extension of our team's expertise in health care, public policy, and social
services. On this site, you will find insightful posts on the American healthcare system in the
midst of its greatest transformation in over seventy years. 
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