In the economics, two kind of poverty are considered: the absolute and relative. A measure of absolute poverty quantifies the number of people below a poverty line, and this poverty line is thought to be independent of time and place (Wikipedia). A measure of relative poverty defines ÏpovertyÏ as being below some relative poverty line (Wikipedia). An example is when poverty is defined as households who earn less than 25% of the median income is a measure of relative poverty. The Copenhagen Declaration describes absolute poverty as a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. The World Bank identifies ¡§extreme poverty¡¨ as being people who live on less than $1 a day, and ¡§poverty¡¨ as less than $2 a day. On that standard, 21% of the world¡¦s population was in extreme poverty, and more than half the world¡¦s population was poor in 2001.
Causes of poverty has been attributed to different factors that includes: individual or pathological causes; familiar causes; subcultural causes such as common pattern of life, learned or shared within a community; agency causes, actions causes by others including war, government, and economics; structural causes (Wikipedia). Other related causes includes land right and ownership, diversion of land use to nonproductive use, increasing emphasis on export