Poverty

The United Nations defines poverty as 'the inability of getting choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means a lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society.'

Within poverty itself there are two types:

• Absolute Poverty: This refers to the state at which people live with income levels that are lower than the level needed for the basic necessities in life such as food, shelter and water. This depends not only on an individuals in come but also on their ability to gain access to certain services.
• Relative Poverty: This refers to those on low income relative to the country's average. It is the individuals quality of life in a particular situation and is defined in terms of the society that the candidate lives in and hence varies from country to country. Relative poverty reflects better the cost of social inclusion and equality of opportunity in a specific time and space. 

In the UK absolute poverty does not exist and has been completely eradicated whereas relative poverty does. One fifth of the UK population live under the relative population line. This is where their total income is less than 60% of the average wage which stands at £26500.