Examine the Argument That Poverty Is Best Explained in Terms of Personal Moral Failings

Though poverty deals with the lack of possessions or the inability to do the things that are considered "normal", the word "normal" depends on the society in which the person lives. The usual accepted indicator of third world poverty is the number of people living on an income of less than $1 per day, and is termed "absolute income poverty". As this indicator would be inappropriate for use in the UK and the developed world the most widely accepted threshold to show poverty in these regions is 60 per cent of average income after housing costs. This is called "relative income poverty" and is accepted by most researchers, the EU and the UK government.
The World Health Organisation has called poverty the worlds biggest killer, and has shown that being poor increases the risk of ill health and also contributes to disease and death through its effects. …