357 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

  • 📑 Aspects to Cover in a Poverty Essay

Students who learn economics, politics, and social sciences are often required to write a poverty essay as part of their course. While everyone understands the importance of this topic, it can be hard to decide what to write about. Read this post to find out the aspects that you should cover in your essay on poverty.

🏆 Best Poverty Topics & Free Essay Examples

👍 powerful topics on poverty and inequality, 🎓 simple & easy topics related to poverty, 📌 interesting poverty essay examples, ⭐ strong poverty-related topics, 🥇 unique poverty topics for argumentative essay, ❓ research questions about poverty, 💯 free poverty essay topic generator.

Topics, related to poverty and inequality, might seem to broad. There are so many facts, factors, and aspects you should take into consideration. However, we all know that narrowing down a topic is one of crucial steps when working on outline and thesis statement. You should be specific enough to select right arguments for your argumentative essay or dissertation. Below, you will find some aspects to include in your poverty essay.

Poverty Statistics

First of all, it would be beneficial to include some background information on the issue. Statistics on poverty in your country or state can help you to paint a picture of the problem. Look for official reports on poverty and socioeconomic welfare, which can be found on government websites. While you are writing this section, consider the following:

Causes of Poverty

If you look at poverty essay titles, the causes of poverty are a popular theme among students. While some people may think that poverty occurs because people are lazy and don’t want to work hard, the problem is much more important than that. Research books and scholarly journal articles on the subject with these questions in mind:

Consequences of Poverty

Many poverty essay examples also consider the consequences of poverty for individuals and communities. This theme is particularly important if you study social sciences or politics. Here are some questions that may give you ideas for this section:

Government Policies

Governments of most countries have policies in place to reduce poverty and help those in need. In your essay, you may address the policies used in your state or country or compare several different governments in terms of their approaches to poverty. Here is what you should think about:

Solutions to Poverty

Solutions to poverty are among the most popular poverty essay topics, and you will surely find many sample papers and articles on this subject. This is because poverty is a global issue that must be solved to facilitate social development. Considering these questions in your poverty essay conclusion or main body will help you in getting an A:

Covering a few of these aspects in your essay will help you demonstrate in-depth understanding and analysis required to earn a high mark. Before you start writing, have a look around our website for more essay titles, tips, and interesting topics!

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Why the United States Needs an Improved Measure of Poverty

Chairman McDermott, Ranking Member Weller, and distinguished members of the Committee, I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you today about the need for an improved measure of poverty in the United States. Our current poverty line is based on data more than 50 years old and our poverty count does not measure the actual resources that many families have available to them.

I have been involved in the discussion of poverty measurement for many years. I was a member of the National Academies of Science’s panel in the mid-1990s that recommended an improved poverty measure and which serves as the model for Representative McDermott’s draft legislation, the Measuring American Poverty Act of 2008. Many of my remarks this morning are taken from the Presidential Address that I gave to the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management last fall, in which I talked about the reasons why we have been so unsuccessful in implementing an updated and effective poverty measure in the United States (Blank, 2008).

Measuring Poverty

An economic measure of poverty requires two definitions. First, one needs to define a poverty line or poverty threshold, the level of income or other resources below which a particular type of family is considered poor. Second, one needs to define a resource measure, which delineates the ways an individual family’s economic resources will be counted. The poverty count is the number of people who live in families with resources below the poverty threshold.

I emphasize these definitional items because it is important to think about poverty lines and resource definitions together. A statistically credible measure of poverty should have a poverty threshold that is consistent with its resource measure, so that the two can be used together. Unlike Representative McDermott’s proposed legislation, many proposed changes in poverty measurement in the past have emphasized changing the way in which family resources are counted, without proposing to change the poverty threshold in a consistent way.

There are serious problems in the current poverty measure with both the threshold definition and the resource definition. No simple, minor change will make this historical poverty measure accurate; a major redefinition is required.

The Historical Poverty Measure in the United States

The current poverty measure was defined in 1963 by Mollie Orshansky in the Social Security Administration. Let me discuss first the poverty line and then the resource definition that she used and that is still in use today. 

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          The current poverty line. Orshansky created a poverty line using the calculation  

                                        Poverty line = 3 x Subsistence food budget

The subsistence food budget for a family of four was based on the Economy Food Plan developed within the USDA in 1961 using data from the 1955 Household Consumption Survey. It was described as the amount needed for “temporary or emergency use when funds are low.” The multiplier of 3 was used because the average family of three or more spent one-third of their after-tax income on food in the 1955 Household Food Consumption Survey. If the average family spent one-third of its income on food, then three times the subsistence food budget provided an estimated poverty threshold. This calculation was done for a family of 4, and so-called ‘equivalence scales’ were used to estimate how much was needed by smaller or larger families.

poverty measures essay ideas

Rebecca M. Blank

Chancellor - university of wisconsin-madison, former brookings expert.

The current poverty line is this number, calculated in 1963 and based on 1955 data, updated by the Consumer Price Index in each year since.

While this methodology for calculating a poverty line was fine in 1963, and was based on the best data available, it is seriously flawed in 2008. There is no other economic statistic in use today that relies on 1955 data and methods developed in the early 1960s. All of our major statistics, from GDP to unemployment to the current account balance, are regularly updated and revised, and based on the most recent and best data available.

It is not too strong a statement to say that, 45 years after they were developed, the official poverty thresholds are numbers without any valid conceptual basis. If one sticks with a threshold based only on food costs, the current multiplier on food costs would be 7.8 rather than 3 because food is a much smaller share of family budgets now than 45 years ago. But basing the threshold numbers on a single commodity is almost surely not the correct way to calculate these thresholds because it leaves the numbers highly sensitive to the relative price of that commodity and insensitive to the price of any other necessary purchases. For instance, while food prices have fallen over the past 43 years, housing prices have risen. Our current poverty calculation is not responsive to these changes in price and spending patterns over time.

The current resource definition. The resource measure in Orshansky’s calculations was straightforwardly defined as cash income. In 1963 this was a reasonable definition. Few low-income families were paying federal taxes. In-kind programs like Food Stamps, which provide non-cash resources to low-income families, were nonexistent or very small. Thus, cash income and disposable income were largely the same among low-income households.

Forty-five years later, this resource definition is also seriously flawed, as cash income alone is no longer an adequate description of the economic resources available to low-income families. There is broad agreement that the resource measure should reflect a family’s disposable income; that is, the income that a family has available for buying necessities such as housing and food, and after taxes and other mandatory expenditures are deducted. For instance, the recent expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) should provide more resources to low-wage earners; this is income we should count when estimating if a family is poor. Furthermore, many of the public assistance programs that have been created or expanded since 1963 provide benefits to low-income families through in-kind payments, such as food stamps or rental subsidies, neither of which are paid to the recipient as cash income. In a country that wants able-bodied adults to work, work expenses are unavoidable and necessary. This includes transportation costs to work as well as child care expenses for single-parent or dual-earner couples. Similarly, out-of-pocket medical expenses are typically necessary expenditures; those with large prescription drug payments each month have fewer discretionary resources than those with no medical expenditures.

Because the historical poverty measure is calculated based only on family cash income, it is unaffected by many changes in disposable income: 

Clearly, a cash income-based definition of family resources is highly insensitive to many of our nation’s most effective anti-poverty programs.

It is long past time to update both the definition of the poverty threshold and the resource definition to reflect the economic situation facing today’s low-income families.

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Essays About Poverty: 10 Writing Prompts for Students

If you are looking to write essays about poverty, there are a lot of topics from which to choose. Here are a few topics you might want to explore.

A poverty essay can be a challenging topic because it has been the political and social factors that contribute. Homelessness among low-income individuals stems from many different causes, and the challenges that poor people suffer can be difficult for some people to relate to. The poverty rate in developing countries is high, but many people also live below the poverty line in America. It can be a challenge to foster economic growth across the board, but one of the ways to foster discussion is through essays. Take a look at these topics that you might want to explore in your next essay on poverty.

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers .

1. The Causes of Poverty

2. the negative effects of poverty, 3. how countries can reduce poverty rates, 4. the basic necessities and poverty, 5. how disabilities can lead to poverty, 6. how the cycle of poverty unfolds , 7. universal basic income and its relationship to poverty, 8. interview someone who has experience living in poverty, 9. the impact of the criminal justice system on poverty, 10. the different ways to create affordable housing.

Essays About Poverty

One of the most specific topics to address involves the causes of poverty. You can craft an essay to examine the most common causes of extreme poverty. Here are a few topics you might want to include:

These are just a few of the most common causes of poverty you might want to highlight in your essay. These topics could help people see why some people are more likely to become impoverished than others.

Poverty affects everyone, and the impacts of an impoverished lifestyle are very real. Furthermore, the disparities when comparing adult poverty to child poverty are also significant. This opens the doors to multiple possible essay topics. Here are a few points to include:

These are just a few of the many side effects of poverty. Of course, these impacts are felt by people across the board, but it is not unusual for children to feel the effects of poverty that much more.

Essays About Poverty: How countries can reduce poverty rates?

The issue of poverty is a major human rights concern, and many countries explore poverty reduction strategies to improve people’s quality of life. You might want to examine different strategies that different countries are taking while also suggesting how some countries can do more. A few ways to write this essay include:

Different countries take different approaches to reduce the number of people living in poverty. Poverty within each country is such a broad topic that you could write a different essay on how poverty could be decreased within the country.

You could also write an essay on the necessities people need to survive. You could take a look at information published by the United Nations , which focuses on getting people out of the cycle of poverty across the globe. The social problem of poverty can be addressed by giving people the necessities they need to survive, particularly in rural areas. Here are ome of the areas you might want to include:

Giving everyone these necessities could significantly improve their well-being and get people out of absolute poverty. You might even want to talk about whether these necessities vary depending on where someone is living.

There are a lot of medical and social issues that contribute to poverty, and you could write about how disabilities contribute to poverty. This is one of the most important essay topics because people could be disabled through no fault of their own. Some of the issues you might want to address in this essay include:

People who are disabled need to have money to survive for many reasons, such as the inability to work, limitations at home, and medical expenses. A lack of money, in this situation, can lead to a dangerous cycle that can make it hard for someone to be financially stable and live a comfortable lifestyle.

Many people talk about the cycle of poverty, yet many people aren’t entirely sure what this means or what it entails. A few key points you should address in this essay include:

The problem of poverty is a positive feedback loop. FIt can be nearly impossible for those who live this every day to escape. Therefore, you might want to explore a few initiatives that could break the cycle of world poverty and explore other measures that could break this feedback loop.

Many business people and politicians have floated the idea of a universal basic income to give people the basic resources they need to survive. While this hasn’t gotten a lot of serious traction, you could write an essay to shed light on this idea. A few points to hit on include:

This is one of the best essay examples because it gives you a lot of room to be creative. However, there hasn’t been a concrete structure for implementing this plan, so you might want to afford one.

Another interesting topic you might want to explore is interviewing someone who is either living in poverty or who has been impoverished in the past. While you can talk about statistics all day, they won’t be as powerful as interviewing someone who has lived that life. A few questions you might want to ask during your interview include:

Keep in mind that you can also craft different questions depending on your responses. You might want to let the interviewee read the essay when you are done to ensure all the information is accurate and correct.

The criminal justice system and poverty tend to go hand in hand. People who have a criminal record are more likely to be impoverished for several reasons. You might want to write an essay that hits on some of these points:

To back up your points, you might want to include a few examples of disparate sentences for people in different socioeconomic situations. 

The different ways to create affordable housing

Many of the problems related to poverty could be reduced if people had access to affordable housing. While the cost of housing has increased dramatically in the United States , there are some initiatives to create affordable housing. Here are a few points to include:

There are a lot of political and social angles to address with this essay, so you might want to consider spreading this out across multiple papers. Affordable housing can make a major difference when someone is trying to escape poverty.

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137 Poverty Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on poverty, 👍 good poverty research topics & essay examples, 🧐 research titles about poverty, 🎓 most interesting poverty research titles, ❓ poverty research questions.

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111 Poverty Essay Topics, Examples, & Title Ideas

📝 poverty essay examples, 💡 poverty essay topics, 🪝 catchy titles about poverty to explore, 🌶️ hot poverty research titles.

🌍 Research Topics on Poverty in Africa

🇺🇸 essay topics on poverty in america, 💸 titles about poverty in the philippines.

Poverty is a complex issue that have affected millions of people around the world for centuries. Scholars define poverty as the state of being unable to meet one’s basic needs for food, shelter, and other necessities. The issue can have far-reaching and devastating consequences for individuals, families, and whole communities.

This collection of poverty essay topics contains research questions, ideas, and titles on poverty in America, Africa, and the Philippines. They are suitable for an argumentative essay, research paper, or speech. You are welcome to use our wealth and poverty essay examples as prompts to make your own research on poverty.

❓ Poverty Research Topics & Questions

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COMMENTS

  1. 357 Poverty Essay Topics & Free Essay Examples - IvyPanda®

    If you look at poverty essay titles, the causes of poverty are a popular theme among students. While some people may think that poverty occurs because people are lazy and don’t want to work hard, the problem is much more important than that. Research books and scholarly journal articles on the subject with these questions in mind:

  2. How to Improve Poverty Measurement in the United States

    An income-based measure of poverty requires agreement on at least four major definitional items. In this paper, I primarily address issues related to the first two of these. To begin, one needs to ...

  3. Why the United States Needs an Improved Measure of Poverty

    First, one needs to define a poverty line or poverty threshold, the level of income or other resources below which a particular type of family is considered poor. Second, one needs to define a ...

  4. Essays About Poverty: 10 Writing Prompts for Students

    7. Universal Basic Income and Its Relationship To Poverty. Many business people and politicians have floated the idea of a universal basic income to give people the basic resources they need to survive. While this hasn’t gotten a lot of serious traction, you could write an essay to shed light on this idea.

  5. Poverty: Causes and Reduction Measures | Free Essay Example

    The eradication of extreme poverty by the year 2015 was one of the millennium development goals that the United Nations member states committed to, during the signing of the United Nations Millennium Declaration.

  6. 137 Poverty Essay Topics & Research Titles ... - StudyCorgi.com

    Poverty Among the USA Citizens and Reduction Efforts This essay presents a letter about the problem of poverty among U.S. citizens and offers the steps that should be taken to improve the situation. Poverty: “$2.00 a Day” Book by Edin and Schaefer

  7. 111 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples: Poverty in Africa ...

    This collection of poverty essay topics contains research questions, ideas, and titles on poverty in America, Africa, and the Philippines. They are suitable for an argumentative essay, research paper, or speech. You are welcome to use our wealth and poverty essay examples as prompts to make your own research on poverty. Yes, we can!

  8. Defining And Measuring Poverty Sociology Essay - UKEssays.com

    Relative poverty is measured on poor standards of living relative to the rest of the society. The lack of access to many of the goods and services expected by the rest of the contemporary society. E.g. afford holidays this leads to social exclusion and damaging individuals and families in relative poverty. Relative poverty is used in Britain ...