Recommendation 3

Poverty is at least partly about a lack of material resources, and most people consider income to be a core measure of poverty. But definitions of poverty cannot be entirely divorced from the society in which people live. A ‘poverty line’ should relate to the normal expectations of, and the cost of living and participating in, that society. Making a decision about where to draw that line is, however, a matter of judgment. These decisions should nevertheless be informed by what the evidence tells us about the impact of being below that line.