Primary Poverty

Primary poverty is a term Seebohmn Rowntree applied to a categorization of poverty, giving rise to the term Seebohmn Rowntree’s poverty line to describe people or groups living below the line of primary poverty. Living below the line of primary poverty means to live with insufficient income to afford basic needs. While investigating primary poverty in York during his study, Rowntree estimated that 10 percent of the city’s population lived in primary poverty.

Poverty is the most pressing human problem on Earth; according to statistics, nearly half of the world population—more than 3 billion people—lives on less than $2.50 per day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty, which is less than $1.25 per day, and 870 million people worldwide do not have enough food ...