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This conceptual and technical paper illustrates how poverty can be defined in the context of policy impact analysis. After reporting and discussing the definition of poverty as “the lack of, or the inability to achieve, a socially acceptable standard of living”, it discusses the mono-dimensional and multi-dimensional approaches to the definition of poverty. Furthermore, the module focuses on the absolute and the relative concept of poverty, also drawing some analogies and differences with the concept of food security. A step-by-step procedure, illustrated by real case examples, is then provided to guide the reader through the process of poverty definition for policy impact analysis.

• For more information, see also:
• Impacts of Policies on Poverty. Absolute Poverty Lines. EASYPol Series 005
• Impacts of Policies on Poverty. Relative Poverty Lines. EASYPol Series 006
• Impacts of Policies on Poverty. Basic Poverty Measures. EASYPol Series 007
• Impacts of Policies on Poverty: Distributional Poverty Measures. EASYPol Series 009
• Impacts of Policies on Poverty. Generalised Poverty Gap Measures. EASYPol Series 010
• Poverty Analysis: Poverty and Dominance. EASYPol Series 035

This paper is part of a FAO Policy series: EASYPol-Resources for policy making (in agriculture, rural development and food security). To find other EASYPol series' resources, go to the Policy Support and Governance website>Resources and type "EASYPol" in the free text search.