Poverty characterizes the situation of an individual, a group of people or a society that lacks sufficient resources to meet its basic needs and develop normally.

Slum in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Jonathan McIntosh.

Poverty originally refers to access to food, drinking water, clothing, housing and heating, but with technological progress and the development of societies it also concerns access to resources such as electricity and communications, and generally all living conditions, including access to health care and education. The term “poverty” refers to that of wealth, and refers to situations of economic and political inequality between individuals and between societies. According to the World Bank, 20.45 % of the world’s population lived in poverty or extreme poverty (with less than $2 a day) in 2005, and 10.67 % in 2013.