Let's Define What Poverty Is...

What does it mean to be poor? How is poverty measured? Third World countries are often described as “developing” while the First World, industrialized nations are often “developed”. What does it mean to describe a nation as “developing”? A lack of material wealth does not necessarily mean that one is deprived. A strong economy in a developed nation doesn’t mean much when a significant percentage (even a majority) of the population is struggling to survive.

Successful development can imply many things, such as (though not limited to):

An improvement in living standards and access to all basic needs such that a person has enough food, water, shelter, clothing, health, education, etc;

A stable political, social and economic environment, with associated political, social and economic freedoms, such as (though not limited to) equitable ownership of land and property;

The ability to make free and informed choices that are not coerced;

Be able to participate in a democratic environment with the ability to have a say in one’s own future;