What would you define as “poverty”, in your own opinion?

[DogLover20]

I appreciate this is a massively controversial topic and I apologise of this thread triggers any bad feelings.
I was listening to a conversation at work today and one of my colleagues was referring to a relative as “basically living in poverty” - it was a man in his 30s earning £30K a year for a low skilled job in London and being unable to afford to buy a house etc. She was referring to his DC as coming from a disadvantaged background. Whilst I agree this is not a high income for London, I think actual “poverty” is a different thing and it got me a bit angry to hear her say those words without thinking about it too much.
So, it made me wonder, what do you classify as actual poverty and a disadvantaged background?

It depends if you're talking about abject or relative poverty.

Trouble affording food and bills in the same month. Poverty is not being able to afford the very basics for life.

Struggling to pay for the basics in life - roof over your head, food, utilities, new shoes when you have holes in your only pair, a warm coat, …the problem is quantifying it because a house on a windy cliff top with no double-glazing is going to require more heating than a modern bungalow in the centre of the country somewhere. Different jobs will have different requirements when it comes to dress codes, the need to look groomed, have a regular haircut etc. which also has different cost implications. Someone with a mortgage and 3 children in full time childcare is going to feel the pinch more quickly than someone in the same situation but who’s parents do the childcare.

It's not being able to pay for your basic needs, shelter, food, clothing. Then you are poor.

The poster who talks about flip flops makes a good point. Shoes and clothing that doesn't suit a season is a conspicuous sign of poverty. Children in shorts in winter, no coat, socks and sliders, tracksuits. Clothing is not so class based these days but wearing something really inappropriate that must mean you are cold as hell, yes, that's poverty. Nobody chooses to be cold

I think I agree with this, you can have a roof over your head but if you have to make a choice between eating and heating then to me this is poverty as you can't afford to meet your basic needs. Or not being able to meet your children's needs.

Poverty is not an exact figure, it’s struggling to afford the necessities of life. Not able to put on the heating, in debt, struggling to afford a healthy diet, not having sufficient clothes.

No running water or gas/oil/electric, not by choice.

No home/ proper structural issues that can't be fixed.

Less than seven meals a week.

No access to sanitation or the ability to have a wash.

I've lived that poverty, so always felt relatively well off as an adult even when not working. Absolutely do not consider £30k to be poverty!

I'd hate to guess how many people out there are on the bones of their arse, and who literally have nothing to cut back on in order to pay for the basics.

When you are having to steal food to feed your children, I don't think my opinion of what poverty is is really appropriate. Especially as I've never experienced anything near such desperation. The fact is that people should not be having to steal food in order to feed themselves and their family.

No home no food and no bills paid, so effectively no utilities. If you have these things everything else is a luxury, like home ownership, cars etc.

Poverty is not being able to meet basic needs in whatever combination. So shelter,warmth,food, clothes.

Also if you can afford cigarettes and alcohol you can afford food.

You know there are actual homeless people that still drink/smoke/use drugs?

Poverty and low income are completely different things.

Going hungry because you can't afford food.

For me living paycheck to paycheck is being poor.

i would say people on benefits in general

i earn around £2K per month and barely cover bills so I’m not sure what people are doing with £400 a month

When you can't afford the basics in the country you're living in. Anything that leaves you with inadequate housing, unable to pay bills or buy food. Unable to function in your community because of having no money to do so or keep well dressed or clean enough.

Poverty will look different in different communities and countries but basically it is having less that the majority of those you are in a community with.

Poverty to me was my childhood with my DM as a single mum picking every penny she found off the pavement and not eating so we could.

No it isn't. It's well above average in my region.

Poverty is being dirt poor, living in grinding misery, not just having a low income.

The kind of poverty my Grandad went through in the Salford slums was awful- walking to school barefoot, starving on one (often cold) meal a day and using an outside toilet shared by several homes, no bathrooms. Siblings dying in infancy of the effects of malnutrition, poor sanitation and treatable diseases but no money for medical care (pre NHS).. no toys, one ragged outfit per family member, no electricity.
Unable to afford even second hand school uniforms so couldn't go to Grammar School, no uniform loans back then. Leaving school at 13 to get a job to keep the family & hiding from the truancy officer until their 14th birthday.

But even he was shocked by the poverty in Calcutta when he was sent to India as a soldier in ww2. So it's all relative.

To me, poverty comes as 2 definitions

1. for developed Western welfare state countries- poverty is just scraping by with the bare minimum. Basic food, Basic housing that is poorly furnished and cold housing in deprived areas. Ultra cheap / old clothes ... this also is my idea of being disadvantaged.

2. extreme poverty is very limited or no acess to the basic food, shelter or clothes. I do include homeless people on the street in welfare states.

I also think until you have actually witnessed or experienced extreme poverty, you have no idea what it actually means. And let's face it, the great majority on this forum really haven't got a glue about poverty.

Yes, that is how I see it too - not having enough to be sure that you can meet those essential bills that month, knowing that it is so tight that the smallest unexpected outgoing will be a disaster.

The feeling of horror when you realize that you have been shortchanged in a shop. The humiliation of standing there, stared at by everyone, while the cashier denies it and the only solution is to hold your ground or you wont be able to feed the family for the next week or more, resulting in the till drawer being taken into the office to be checked, everyone still glaring at you, even when the £10 (this was early 80s so it was a relatively large amount) is finally, begrudgingly handed back without so much as an apology. Yes, I have been there many years ago.

Yes most/all do. Homeless people aside.

True poverty doesn't exist in the UK. Even the worst off here have more at their disposal than many abroad.

Thats most of the population