Fattigdom i Danmark: Absolut og relativ fattigdom

There are different perspectives to the word “poverty”. When you hear the word “poverty” you might think of Burkina Faso or other African and Asian countries. In places like these, many people are living a life of absolute poverty. Absolute poverty is a condition where you do not have the income needed to meet the requirements of basic living. That could be lack of food, safe drinking water, clothing, shelter and so on. Most people who live a life of absolute or extreme poverty, live in developing countries or countries with low GDP per person. It has been shown in prior research that increased economic growth reduces poverty.

In a country like Denmark, and the rest of Europe, absolute poverty is a very rare thing. Here we shall only experience poverty in its relative form. Even though Denmark is one of the richest countries in the World, and also one of the most economically equal countries, the number of poor people has grown 50 percent from 2001 until 2007. This is according to the OECD poverty line, as there is no official poverty line in Denmark. But these people still have access to food and beverages as we have social welfare benefits which will always cover your needs of survival, and not necessarily all your wants. Nonetheless, there are still people in Denmark who are homeless and therefore does not have one of the most necessary requirements: shelter.