Definition of Poverty – Children dropping out of school because they cannot afford education, a mother who steals milk for her child, the high prevalence of malnutrition in children, what’s wrong with them? People say our land is the land of heaven, that’s the lyrics of the song by the band Koes Ploes.
But shouldn’t all citizens in the land of heaven be prosperous? In fact there is still a lot of poverty that we can see before our eyes. Why is there still poverty today in our country? What is the impact if left continuously? And how to solve it?
Reader, let’s talk about poverty this time. By studying it, we hope to help alleviate poverty in Indonesia.
Definition of Poverty
The primary needs or basic needs that we know so far include clothing, shelter, and food. If translated successively are clothes, houses, and eating and drinking.
However, recently many experts have included education and health as primary needs. This is because education and health are needed to provide clothing, shelter and food. Without both, the fulfillment of all three is difficult to do.
The inability to meet these primary needs is poverty. Poverty can be said to be like a social condition that is very heartbreaking and offers sorrow.
However, is there a way to escape this poverty? Find the answer through the book To Avoid Poverty below.
How can our hearts not be cut?
After hearing or witnessing that small children have to suffer from malnutrition because their parents cannot provide adequate nutritional needs, the children drop out of school and then work to earn money.
Poverty is one of the benchmarks of the well-being of a community in the area. Not only that, poverty can also be used as a benchmark to measure the level of progress of a country
Poverty is a global problem that from ancient times until now many countries have tried to escape from the problem. Our understanding of poverty can be seen from various points of view.
Some understand poverty subjectively, but there are also comparative ones. There are also those who see it from a moral, evaluation, or scientific understanding which is considered to have a strong foundation.
To be able to understand the meaning of the word poverty through the right perspective and develop concern for the people around, the book Poverty = Curse? you can get it below.
According to many opinions, someone who is said to be poor can be measured in various ways, namely:
1. Lack of material
Due to the lack of material availability, it is difficult for a person to meet clothing, board, food, education, and health. Poverty from this point of view is understood as a lack of basic goods and services.
2. Lack of fulfillment of social needs
A person will be ostracized by the community, if dependent, missing information, or unable to participate in community life.
3. Lack of sufficient income and wealth
Adequate poverty parameters differ in each country. Because it is influenced by the country’s economic conditions and the country’s political policies. In addition, lack of income and wealth, a person has difficulties to meet clothing, board, food, education, and health.
The condition of continuous poverty will give birth to a poor population. What is the poor population? If the population has conditions that are below the standard limit of the poverty line set by the state, it can be said to be a poor population.
The poverty line is measured from the value of rupiah that must be spent to meet daily living needs. Both the minimum subsistence requirement of food and the minimum subsistence requirement of non-food.
Types of Poverty
According to Ali Khomsan and friends in the book entitled Indicators of Poverty and Misclassification of the Poor , there are several types of poverty that need to be known, namely:
1. Absolute Poverty
Absolute poverty is poverty that describes individuals whose income is below the poverty line set by the state. Or it can also be interpreted as the condition of an individual whose income is not enough to meet his primary needs.
2. Relative Poverty
Relative poverty is poverty caused by development policies that have not been spread evenly so that they have not been able to reach the entire community. Therefore, in some regions there are residents who have income inequality.
Although the condition of a resident is already above the poverty line, he still looks poor because the average income of the residents of the area is higher.
Therefore, this type of poverty is called relative poverty. Relative poverty can also be interpreted as poverty that comes from the comparison between the population and its environment.
From this relative poverty, a stigma can be formed that personal A is relatively poorer than personal B because personal B has a higher income.
3. Cultural Poverty
Cultural poverty is poverty that is formed because of the habits of society that have become culture, both from the values carried, thoughts, and ways of working. Examples of cultural poverty that often occur in the community are as follows:
- Lazy
- Low work ethic
- Easy to surrender to fate
- A culture of society that likes corruption, collusion, and nepotism
- Reject the progress of science and technology
- Suspend aid from other parties, including the government
- Fewer
- Likes extravagance and excessive consumption
- Likes to steal and take shortcuts to success
- Relying on the inheritance of parents
- Not standing on his own feet aka not independent
To better understand the various fundamental principles of poverty alleviation as described in the Qur’an, Reader can read the book Himah di Balik Kemiskinan.
4. Structural Poverty
Structural poverty is poverty that originates from the social structure embedded in certain groups of society and makes it possible for them to be unable to use the resources that are actually available to them.
Examples of structural poverty that often occur in society, namely
- An area that has abundant natural resources, but its people cannot enjoy this wealth.
- Eviction or clearing of land carried out by the government in an area causes the surrounding community to have no place to live and lose their jobs.
- Communities in one area did not have time to have jobs or lost their jobs because the area’s natural resources were controlled by foreign investors who used foreign workers.
- Poor countries because they are unable to pay off foreign debt.
How to Measure Poverty
The World Bank or the World Bank has set a poverty line. This means that if someone has the ability to spend in a day below that nominal, then that person can be categorized as poor. These standards experience updates along with world conditions.
In 2005, the poverty line was $1.25. Currently, the poverty line set by the World Bank is $ 1.9 or equivalent to Rp. 27,000.00 (exchange rate of $ 1 = Rp. 14,258.25 as of 11/9).
However, every country has a different poverty line. This is of course caused by many things, such as the exchange rate of the country’s currency against the USD, the economy, geopolitics, and so on.
In order to better understand what is meant by the standard poverty line, and how to analyze and classify it, Reader can learn about all of this through the book Poverty Indicators and Misclassification of the Poor.
The most severe poverty is generally experienced by developing countries. This can be proven by the presence of poverty in each region. Countries that are experiencing a poverty crisis are forced to owe money to the World Bank or other countries. This is very risky because if they cannot pay the state debt, they will be declared bankrupt.
However, that does not mean there is no poverty in developed countries. The presence of homeless people roaming around is proof that at least there are some poor individuals in developed countries. It’s just that there aren’t many of them.
Looking at the data presented by the World Population Review , the 5 countries with the highest percentage of poverty (in order of highest poverty rate) are:
- South Sudan is 82.3% of the total population of 11,381,378 people.
- Equatorial Guinea accounts for 76.8% of the total population of 1,449,896 people.
- Madagascar is 70.7% of the total population of 28,427,328 people
- Guinea Bissau is 69.3% of the total population of 2,015,494 people.
- Eritrea is 69% of the total population of 3,601,467 people.
Meanwhile, the 5 countries with the lowest poverty rate (in order of lowest poverty rate) are:
- Turkmenistan is 0.2% of the total population of 6,117,924 people.
- China is 0.6% of the total population of 1,444,216,107 people.
- Ukraine is 1.3% of the total population of 43,466,819 people.
- Kazakhstan is 2.5% of the total population of 18,994,962 people.
- Sri Lanka is 4.1% of the total population of 21,497,310 people.
Know the Definition of Poverty Line
The poverty line (GK) is a standard used to determine whether an individual is in the poor category or not. In Indonesia, GK is calculated from the sum of the Food Poverty Line (GKM) and the Non-Food Poverty Line (GKNM). Residents who have per capita expenditure per month below the GK fall into the category of poor people.
GKM is the expenditure value to meet the minimum food needs which can be equated with 2,100 calories per capita a day. There are 52 types of commodities that represent basic food needs, namely grains, tubers, fish, meat, eggs and milk, vegetables, nuts, fruits, oils and fats, and so on.
While GKNM itself is expenditure to meet the minimum needs for shelter, clothing, education, and health. Commodity packages of this type are represented by 47 commodities in rural areas and 51 types in urban areas.
Mathematically, GK = GKM + GKNM
Causes of Poverty
No smoke without fire is the correct term to describe causation. The occurrence of poverty certainly does not come suddenly, but there is a long and continuous process so that poverty occurs. Reader, the following are the causes of poverty:
1. Lack of Job Opportunities
Individuals who do not have a good, steady and continuous job will certainly find it difficult to meet their daily needs. Instead of meeting secondary to tertiary needs, primary needs are difficult to fulfill.
You can imagine if this condition occurs in other individuals in large numbers. The country must be facing a serious poverty problem.
Therefore, the government should manage the availability of jobs properly and increase the number of entrepreneurs who are reliable and have a high sense of nationalism. So that the stock of employment can accommodate the large number of workers.
2. Lack of Education, Knowledge, and Knowledge
Education in Indonesia has several purposes, among them:
- Enrich the life of a nation
- Forming dignified national character and civilization
- Develop the potential of students to become noble people, have faith and fear God Almighty. Not only that, education is also necessary for students to be knowledgeable, capable, creative, and independent.
- Become a democratic and responsible citizen.
With the above objectives, education is very necessary for a person’s progress. The lack of education a person receives can reduce the development of a person’s potential.
Someone who is highly educated, at least has a greater opportunity to grow the spirit of innovation, how to negotiate, how to think scientifically and logically, attitude , how to argue, how to solve problems, how to find strategic relationships, etc.
A person who is less educated will lose those opportunities especially when entering the world of work, he will lose to compete with his rivals.
It can be imagined if there are many individuals who lack education in a country. It is certain that the country will lack superior human beings. As a result, the country lacks innovation, research, and low negotiation skills. Thus, the occurrence of poverty is only waiting for time.
It should be noted, education we mean here is someone’s willingness to learn. Education itself is formal and informal.
3. A Conflict or Riot Occurs
The occurrence of conflict or riots can disrupt the stability of the country, both in terms of politics, economy, social, culture, as well as defense and security. Riots can reduce the productivity of the community so that domestic trade and exports become sluggish. This will result in soaring prices on some goods or services.
Security becomes disturbed because it is not uncommon for there to be looting of stalls, shops, factories, offices, gardens, rice fields, forests, etc. As a result, economic actors, especially entrepreneurs, experience difficulties in carrying out their activities and hinder the country’s economic activities.
4. Climate Change or Natural Disasters
Natural disasters, whether caused by climate change or not, have a great influence on the condition of a person’s poverty. If we look at the flashback of the earthquake that hit Lombok and the tsunami that hit Palu in the same year, 2018. The disaster left a lot of tremors for the people of Indonesia.
As a result of the disaster, everything was paralyzed. Destroying many things that have been built. This can cause poverty in the area.
5. Occurrence of Social Injustice
Social injustice can cause a person to have different opportunities to develop. A person who is discriminated against or has difficulty obtaining his rights, of course can experience poverty.
6. Lack of Water and Food Resources
Water and food can be said to be basic needs for life. Therefore, there should be no shortage of water and food because a lack of both can lead to poverty.
7. Minimal Infrastructure
Bad road conditions, land separated from the waters due to lack of bridges, lack of information due to limited internet connections, lack of public transportation, and so on.
These things will certainly disrupt economic activity. These conditions can reduce the ability to compete with other rivals. The backwardness can reduce competitiveness and lead to poverty.
8. Lack of Government Support
A government that does not support its people in finding income can plunge its people into the abyss of poverty. The support given by the government to the people can be in the form of regulations, grant aid, natural resource management, employment, and so on.
9. Poor Health Quality
Getting health services has become one of the primary needs. The lack of health services can cause poverty in the community because sick people cannot do their jobs well.
10. High Demand Price
The high prices of necessities cause people to find it difficult to buy goods, especially basic necessities. The income obtained cannot be sufficient as usual. If this happens in the long term, poverty will occur.
Impacts of Poverty
If in a country there are a lot of people who feel poverty, then there will be impacts that will be detrimental to the country. The following are the impacts caused by poverty.
- High crime rate.
- Closed access to education.
- High unemployment rate.
- Deteriorating health services.
- High death rate.
- Chaos.
- The country was declared bankrupt.