Defining poverty
What is poverty?: good question
Improving poverty definition and analysis
Authors:
T. McKinley
Publisher:
International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, 2006
This one-pager from the International Poverty Centre details the changable meanings of poverty and human development. It aims to stimulate a broader debate and lead to greater conceptual and operational clarity on poverty definition issues.
The author refers back to the days of the first UN Human Development Report in 1990, with the advent of the Human Development Index (HDI). An overview of changes in the way poverty has since been conceptualised is then presented.
The introduction of the capability-based approach to poverty definition and measurement marked an important turning point for poverty research. It has since increasingly recognised the multidimensional nature of poverty, and is now considered in relation to influential factors in addition to simple monetary terms.
