Abstract
In this paper we use the Portuguese component of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) to develop a measure of consistent poverty in Portugal. It is widely agreed that being poor does not simply mean not having enough monetary resources. It also reflects a lack of access to the resources required to enjoy a minimum standard of living and participation in the society one belongs to. The coexistence of material deprivation and monetary poverty leads to the concept of consistent poverty. The assessment of material deprivation and the identification of the households and individuals living in consistent poverty could become essential parts of the national anti-poverty strategy and crucial instruments in the definition of the target groups in social policy.
Highlights
The use of both income and deprivation criteria to identify the most vulnerable sectors of the society has become increasingly popular in both the poverty and social policy literature
The adoption by the Indicators Sub-Group of the Social Protection Committee of the European Union in 2009 of a new broader indicator of material deprivation contributed to the recent increase in the discussion on multidimensional measures of poverty, deprivation and social exclusion
This broader definition of poverty as the lack of both monetary and non-monetary resources became more pertinent after Ringen’s (1988) criticism of exclusively using income to identify poverty. This criticism was clearly inspired by Townsend’s (1979) definition of poverty: «Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged, or approved, in the societies to which they belong
Summary
The use of both income and deprivation criteria to identify the most vulnerable sectors of the society has become increasingly popular in both the poverty and social policy literature. The adoption by the Indicators Sub-Group of the Social Protection Committee of the European Union in 2009 of a new broader indicator of material deprivation contributed to the recent increase in the discussion on multidimensional measures of poverty, deprivation and social exclusion. This broader definition of poverty as the lack of both monetary and non-monetary resources became more pertinent after Ringen’s (1988) criticism of exclusively using income to identify poverty. The identification of the sectors of the population which are consistently poor will allow a detailed analysis of multidimensional poverty in Portugal and contribute to highlight the relationship between income poverty and material deprivation
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