Poverty is an ongoing problem in Canada. Poverty is defined as the inability to obtain the necessities for life. Despite poverty being an ongoing problem, how to properly measure it is disputed among scholars. There are two basic formations for the measurement of poverty: the relative measurement and the absolute measurement. In Canada they are called the low income cut off, or LICO, measurement and the market basement measure, or MBM, measurement. The LICO measurement is individuated to Canada whereas the MBM measurement is a worldwide standard. Of the two the LICO measurement of poverty is most relevant for Canadian politicians. This because a relative measurement allows for policy makers to understand poverty based upon what it means to be impoverished by a Canadian standard rather than worldwide standard. Despite this the LICO measurement is still imperfect and cannot be considered a complete formation for policy makers since it produces peculiar results and appears to be unfixable.
Relative poverty measurements are based upon the geographical area making the measurements. These measurements are based upon what that area believes is necessary to be considered a proper citizen in it. It is therefore individuated based upon the historical and culture of the area. It goes without saying that two different areas will different understandings of what citizenship is and thus cannot be expected to adhere to the same rules as each other. By following the historical and cultural formation of a state can see trends that affect the area’s poverty rates as time goes on and have a basis to fix this problem based upon how the state wishes itself to be run. This additionally allows for fluxions in the understanding of culture and history to change the how the measurement is taken since countries are not stagnating. This measurement then measures the disparity between individuals within the country rather than the overall deprivation of necessitates. Thus the formation is also flexible when assessing countries poverty. The Canadian measurement that is used to measure relative poverty is the LICO. The LICO defines some as improvised if they spend 62% or more of their yearly income on necessary goods.
Absolute poverty measurements are based upon a worldwide standard. They measure if a person is to able to earn enough money to satisfy the basic needs of individuals. This formation therefore looks at deprivation since it looks to see if you have enough to survive. Additionally this standard is a worldwide standard of what it expected to be needed by individuals to survive. Thus the absolute poverty measuring is a more fixed and world standard of measuring poverty. The Canadian version of this measurement is the MBM. It defines poverty as anyone who has a yearly income below the market basement, the amount that is defined as the minimum needed to have the access to the most basic necessities of life.
It appears quite obviously then that the LICO measurement is...