1. What is poverty?
By: Emily Yoder

2. Definition of the word “poverty”
the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor
deficiency of necessary or desirable ingredients, qualities, etc.
scantiness; insufficiency (

3. What is poverty? World Bank Organization:
“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.”
"What Is Poverty?" Government of New Brunswick, Canada. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr <

4. Official Definition of Poverty
1974- Mollie Orshansky, a government economist, defined poverty line:
“Cost of a minimum nutritious diet for a typical family of four and the proportion of income that the family spent on food and multiplying the price of the food budget by 3 to allow for nonfood cost” (p. 219)
A ‘poverty line’ for a family of four was $3,000 annual income in 1974
By 2008, the poverty line for a family of four was $22,000 annual income

5. Evolving Poverty Line Definition
Poverty line is annually adjusted for increasing prices but not for changing lifestyles
Majority of cross-national studies define the poverty threshold as one-half of the average family’s income.
Official U.S. poverty line was 50% this level in 1963 when first employed
But 28% of this level in 2000

6. How many poor?
Between 37 and 65 million Americans were poor according to 2007 estimates.

7. Who is at risk?
Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. 8th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, Print.

8. Distribution of Poverty, 2008
Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. 8th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, Print.

9. Percent of Americans in poverty
Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. 8th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, Print.

10. Relative poverty rates in 21 rich nations
Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, the Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. 8th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, Print.

11. Identifying Poverty as a Social Problem
FDR administration
First time the government took responsibility for helping in cases of economic crises.
Direct relief
Job relief
Social Security Act of 1935
Unemployment insurance
Pensions
Kennedy & Johnson administrations
“entitlement programs”
Food stamps
program for families with low incomes
reduced malnutrition and helped farmers
Medicare
health insurance for the elderly
Medicaid
providing health insurance for the poor
Johnson’s “War on Poverty”

12. Conclusion Poverty is not having enough… To sustain life
To have a good quality of life
“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.”
-World Bank Organization