 The gap between the rich and poor of the world is growing.
The poorest 20 percent of the world’s population accounts for slightly more than 1 percent of global income, while the richest 20 percent accounts for 86 percent. The United States mirrors this reality: in 1997, the 2.6 million Americans with the highest incomes—the top 1 percent—had as much after-tax income as close to 100 million Americans with the lowest incomes.
—Jacques Diouf, Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General;U.S. Congressional Budget Office study
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 There are different definitions of poverty.
To define poverty, it is necessary to define what constitutes basic needs. Basic needs may be defined as narrowly as those things necessary for survival, or as broadly as the prevailing standard of living in the community. Thus, poverty in one area or part of the world may have quite a different meaning than in another area or part of the world. In the United States, poverty thresholds are determined by taking the cost of a minimum adequate diet for families of different sizes and multiplying that cost by three to allow for other expenses.
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 There is more to being poor than not having money.
‘Poverty is much more than a matter of income alone. The poor seek a sense of well-being which is peace of mind; it is good health, community, and safety. It is choice and freedom as well as a steady source of income.”
—James D. Wolfensohn, World Bank Group president, in an address to the Board of Governors in 1999
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 Poverty impacts those who are already most vulnerable.
A report released by the Children’s Defense Fund indicates that the U.S. child poverty rate is roughly twice as high as the rates in Canada or Germany, and at least six times higher than France, Belgium or Austria. Some 1.5 million elderly people either pay more than 50 percent of their income in rent or live in substandard housing.
—Children’s Defense Fund; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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 The need for affordable housing is growing.
In every region of the United States, there were fewer units affordable to households with incomes below 30 percent of the area median income than there were renter households with these incomes. Nationally, for every 100 extremely low-income renters (defined as those with income below 30 percent of area median income), only 40 units were both affordable and available.
—U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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 Having a job does not preclude poverty.
Last year in New Jersey, it took an hourly wage of $16.88 to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. In Santa Clara County, Calif., home to the Silicon Valley, 34 percent of the area’s homeless have full-time jobs.
—National Low Income Housing Coalition, Builder magazine
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 Women often face more challenges than men in overcoming poverty.
One out of every four countries in the developing world has a constitution or national laws that prevent women from owning land and/or taking mortgages in their own names. Customary restraints to women owning land or property are highest in Africa, parts of the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.
—United Nations’ Centre for Human Settlements,State of the World’s Cities 2001
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