Categories of Poverty

Often policy makers will refer to specific categories of poverty in order to better understand the experience of poverty or to target interventions. Though not an exhaustive list, there are some common terms that used extensively in the media.

Fuel Poverty

A household is said to be in fuel poverty if it needs to spend more than 10 per cent of its income on energy costs. (Department for Communities, NI)

Period Poverty

Period poverty is often defined as the lack of access to sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education, toilets, hand washing facilities, and/or, waste management. Combatting period poverty often is coupled with education to tackle stigma around menstruation.

Food Insecurity

The Department for Work and Pensions measure food insecurity in their Family Resources Survey. Food insecurity is defined as going without or cutting back on quality or quantity of food due to a lack of money. People who are food insecure have, at some point over the last three months, run out of food and been unable to afford more, and/or reduced meal size, eaten less, gone hungry or lost weight due to not being able to afford food. There are four categories of food security: high, marginal, low and very low. Food insecurity is defined as experiencing low or very low food security.