Measuring poverty is always a problem, especially if you recognize that just using money is not enough. There are a number of new measurements emerging, like the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare.1 This measures ‘quality’ economic activity by, for example, making a subtraction for air pollution and an addition for unpaid household labour.
Another method is the Human Poverty Index. This is ranked according to three main areas of deprivation: survival; knowledge and a decent standard of living. In the industrial world, where the Index also includes social exclusion, some 7 to 17% of the populations are classified as poor. The higher the percentage figure, the greater the poverty in that country.
- See more at: http://newint.org/features/1999/03/01/poor-rich-the-facts/#sthash.4440HYGZ.dpuf
