Lesson 21 — Activity 2: What Is Poor?

Determining what "poor" really means can be difficult. It is hard to measure poverty (being poor) because there are different standards across the world. In some places, things cost much more than in other places. However, most of us would agree that if you cannot afford to meet your basic needs, then you are poor.

In this activity, you will learn more about what being "poor" means.

In Canada, the poverty line is about $20,000 a year. However, the level of the poverty line changes from country to country, depending on the cost of living. The cost of living is determined by the cost of basic needs. In some parts of the world, the cost of living is much lower than in Canada. The poverty line is about $500.00 a year in some countries. 

You can see that most of the less-developed countries, which are also the poorest, are in the Southern Hemisphere. This means that they are south of the equator (the imaginary line around the middle of the earth).