S o c ia lly r e s p o n s ib le - C a r it a s
Poverty exists, even in Luxembourg! At the European level, the Heads of State and Heads of Government have decided to measure poverty using a relative poverty indicator. There are also other definitions: thus in third world development aid circles, the poor are defined as those who subsist on the equivalent of less than one US dollar per day. This is defined as absolute poverty. There is also subjective poverty, which one determines by asking people whether they feel that they are poor... LA PAUVRETE EXISTE, MEME AU LUXEMBOURG! Au niveau européen on définit la pauvreté par un indicateur de pauvreté relative. En matière de coopération au développement, en revanche, on définit comme pauvres ceux qui doivent survivre avec moins d'un dollar par jour, c'est ce qu'on appelle la pauvreté absolue. Quant à la pauvreté subjective, elle est constatée en dem andant aux gens eux-mêmes s'ils se sentent pauvres...
It turns ou t th a t there is a rough correlation
O n s'a pe rço it qu'il n 'y a pas de différence fo n da
betw een relative poverty and subjective pov
m en ta le e n tre p a uvreté relative e t pauvreté sub
erty, as well as w ith w h a t is know n as the
jective, ni d'ailleurs avec ce qu'on appelle l'indicateur
index o f deprivation, w hich m easures the pro
de p riv a tio n : c o m b ie n de gens s o n t p rivés d'au
portion o f people w h o are d ep rived o f at
m o in s d e u x biens te ls q u e té lé visio n , vo itu re ,
least tw o item s, such as th e follow ing: te le
o rd in a te u r ou salle de bain?
vision, car, co m p u ter, b a th roo m , etc. Let us
Pour en reve n ir à la p a u vre té relative, celle-ci est
look at relative poverty. This concept is based
basée su r les revenus d 'u n m énage, sans prendre
solely on the incom e o f a household, and
en co n s id é ra tio n les d iffé re n ce s de dépenses
does n ot th e re fo re ta k e in to co n sid e ra tio n
e n g e n d ré e s , p a r e x e m p le p a r les lo y e rs , les
differen ces
c ré d its etc. C o m m e n t la
in
e x p e n d itu re
resu ltin g
fo r
instance from rent, loan rep a ym en ts, etc.
m esure-t-on? D 'abord, on
Relative pov erty is m easured as follow s:
a ttrib u e à ch a q u e
First o f all, each m e m b e r o f a h ouseh old is
so n n e d 'u n m é n a g e un
allocated an in com e w h ich is k n o w n as the
reve n u q ue l'on appelle
p e r
Caritas m ade a n u m b e r o f proposals in its Sozialalm anach 2 0 0 8
o f th e net
revenu équivalent. Pour l'obtenir, on divise la
incom es o f all m em b e rs o f th e househ old is
so m m e des revenus nets p a r un n o m b re qui repré
divided by a num ber obtained by sum m ing up
sente la so m m e des coefficients des personnes
equivalence incom e: th e sum
the coefficients o f all m em bers o f the house
c o m p o s a n t le m énage. La p re m iè re perso n n e
hold (first adult: 1; all oth er persons aged 14
a d u lte se v o it o c tro y e r le co e ffic ie n t 1, to u te s les
and over: 0.5; any children u nd er14 :0.3). Then
a u tre s p e rso n n e s âgées de 14 ans au m oins le
th e m em bers o f th e h ouseh old are classed
coefficient 0,5 e t to u s les enfants de m oins de 14
in accordance w ith th e eq u ivalen ce incom e
ans le c o e ffic ie n t de 0,3. O n classe e n su ite to u te s
th us obtained. The person w h o h ap p ens to
les p e rso n n e s d 'ap rè s le reve n u é q u iva le n t ainsi
be right in th e m iddle o f th e classification is
o b te n u dans un ord re croissant. Le revenu é q u iva
th e m edian
le n t de la p e rso n n e q u i se tro u v e au m ilie u de ce
income. This m eth od o f fin d in g an average
cla sse m e n t servira de reve n u m éd ia n e t divisera
has the advan tage th a t it is n o t a ffected by
la p o p u la tio n en d e u x tra n ch e s. Il s 'a g it d 'u n e
ex trem e incom es. In 2 0 0 0 , th e European
m é th o d e d iffé re n te de m o y e n n e p o u r ca lcu le r
H eads o f State and H eads o f G o vern m e n t, at
un m o n ta n t re p ré s e n ta tif e t q u i a l'a va nta g e de
th e ir su m m it in Laeken, ag reed th a t a n y o n e
ne pas ê tre sous l'in flu e n ce des revenus e x trê
w ith an equivalence incom e o f less than
m es. D e p u is le s o m m e t d e Laeken en 2 0 0 0 , les
said to be th e
person
w ith
6 0 % o fth is m edian incom e could b e d e e m e d
perso n n e s d o n t le reve n u é q u iv a le n t est in fé rie u r
to be at risk o f being poor. The th e o ry is n ot
à 50%
Il i a F L Y DO S CO P El
du
reve n u m é d ia n s o n t co nsidérées