What does poverty really mean?
When we hear the word poverty, I think many of us imagine extreme situations, like homelessness, starvation, or people living in very poor conditions. But poverty is far more complex, and far more widespread, than we often realise.
According to the United Nations, more than 700 million people (around 10 percent of the world’s population) still live in extreme poverty. These people are surviving on less than two dollars a day. And despite decades of progress, this number is rising again.
But poverty is not only about income. It’s also about access to healthcare, education, decent work, social protection, and the power to make choices about your own life.
Poverty is also deeply connected to human rights. Issues like child labour, forced labour, and human trafficking are often direct consequences of poverty and economic insecurity.
This is why poverty remains one of the most important global issues today, and why “No Poverty” is the number one goal in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
In this Thinking in English episode, we’ll explore what poverty really is, how it’s measured, why people fall into poverty and struggle to escape it, whether it’s actually possible to reduce or even end poverty, and finally, how the language we use to talk about poverty changes the way we understand it.
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What about Delhi?
Ramanujan
Impossible to listen when 30% of an episode is just an ad.
I listen many podcasts here, but I loved your podcast best, thank you so much for very understandable and very explaned podcast, I'd like to emphasize your voice too.
I’m very excited for this podcast because it’s very useful 🙏🙏😃😃
what a wonderful subject, I'm so into it.
interesting! tks guy
thanks for your podcast 🤝🎀
easy to listen and understand
Thanks for this bonus episode. In my opinion, even if Mr Beast did it for personal benefit, now thousands of thousands of people have access to clean fresh water for free. That's a win-win situation.
I believe , Iran is the oldest
Thank you. How can I have the PDF file of the text?
great
I really enjoy your episodes and look forward to them every Monday. While listening, I not only improve my English but also learn about various topics like history.
i'm listening your great podcast in 2025
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Hi there, thanks for your efforts, I really appreciate it But unfortunately I can't recently download or play any episods here. The error says the source is broken!
I am a big fan of your work! Although I do not always agree with your conclusions, I really appreciate your way of thinking. Thank you for all the efforts and sorry for my English 🙈
You are great at standing of being up-to-date on current happenings in the world, I appreciate that
I'm not sure, I think the word of this year is "manifest"