Poverty is Relative

I can't remember much about my childhood. I know my father worked as a copper smelter in Smethwick & my mother had part time factory jobs after I went to school. I don't think they had much in the way of savings, but they owned their own house, presumably with a mortgage. 

At first there wasn't much heating, just an open coal fire. The washing was done with a boiler & a dolly in the lean to. But our second house did have radiators & at some point a twin tub washing machine. We took in 2 university students as lodgers to help ends meet. There was always food at mealtimes, but not many treats. 

We didn't need big wardrobes. Unlike today, working class people didn't follow fashion. My mother made most of my clothes. I know she struggled to buy the uniform for my grammar school, which was very expensive. Especially Start Right shoes & a velour hat! We didn't eat out, takeaways didn't exist & we hardly ever had coffee or tea out. Holidays were either camping - absolutely dire, or in a B&B - not much better. I wouldn't say we lived in poverty. There just wasn't much spare cash.

I am utterly shocked that apparently there are 4.3 million children in relative poverty in the UK according to Save the Childrens 2023 -24 stats. Worse, there are now 3.6 million children in absolute poverty.

https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/news/media-centre/press-releases/children-in-poverty-are-being-failed-the-uk-government-needs-to-

How can that be possible or acceptable in a supposedly wealthy nation? The GDP per Capita in United Kingdom is estimated to be $46,453 international dollars

But poverty is relative. The 5 poorest countries in the world are;-

South Sudan ($455 | GDP-PPP per Capita)

Burundi ($916 | GDP-PPP per Capita)

Central African Republic ($1,123 | GDP-PPP per Capita)

Democratic Republic of the Congo ($1,552 | GDP-PPP per Capita)

Mozambique ($1,649 | GDP-PPP per Capita)

https://sapa-usa.org/top-poorest-countries-in-the-world/ 

Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe, with a Gross National Income per capita of $3.5K. 

I wouldn't dream of minimising the poverty of european families. But if there is to be balance we have to be clear what we mean by poverty. Extreme poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. Poverty is “the state of being extremely poor”. The definition for poor as “lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society”.The poorest people are undernourished, don't have access to basic services such as electricity & clean drinking water, they also don't have access to good education or health services despite being in poor health.

https://ourworldindata.org/poverty

It seems to me that, unbelievably, the UK is moving backwards

 

https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk

 

We need to tackle poverty, not just at home but worldwide. In order to do that we need to do something about wealth distribution. The current situation of extremes of poverty & obscene wealth are not acceptable. I find it completely indefensible that Jeff Bezos, for example, paid $500 million for the mega yacht "Koru"  in 2023 to travel around the globe.

 

 

 

•