POVERTY IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES IS COMPLICATED | TELLERS | SOCIAL CREATIVE
Would you be surprised if you found out that the US and Japan, the two countries which have long been regarded as big economies, are actually “poor economies”? Before going into the details, we need to define what poverty is first.
There are two types of poverty: “absolute poverty” and “relative poverty.” In the past, absolute poverty used to refer to those who are unable to secure the minimum amount of calories and nutrients required to sustain a healthy human body, or more simply, those who cannot eat properly every day. More recently, however, it refers to those who do not have enough money “to buy food.” This means that those who are self-sufficient are not considered to be participating in economic activities.
According to a report jointly published by the United Nations and the World Bank in 2015, the poverty line is defined as $1.25 or less per person per day, or an annual income of (approximately) $450. Of the world’s total population of 7.2 billion people, it is estimated that 1.4 billion people, or one out of five, are living below the poverty line.
Relative poverty, on the other hand, refers to those who earn less than 50% of the median income of a country (median is the midpoint value of a frequency distribution, meaning the most frequently observed income value; this is different from the average). As mentioned in the beginning, the US and Japan, which were once considered as the “rich countries,” are now the top two among the G7 (the seven largest economies in the world) in terms of the proportion of people in the country who fall into the category of relative poverty. The US is just over 17%, and Japan is slightly less than 16%. Among the 36 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, the US ranks second (Israel ranks No.1) and Japan ranks 7th (2017 data).
However, it should be noted that both countries have a large GDP and high median annual income. In the case of Japan, even if one had an annual income of about $25,000 (more than 2.5 million yen), he may still be defined as relatively poor. Compare this with the absolute poverty line of $450 per year. Why are they so different?
Since the 1980s, many national governments set neoliberalism as their economic policy: the Reagan administration in the US, the Thatcher administration in the UK, and the Nakasone administration in Japan. Under this policy, highly public projects such as railways were privatized one after another; at the same time, the term economic globalization started to emerge. It became normal for people (workers), goods, funds, and information to cross borders. As a result, some people became billionaires through global businesses such as the IT industry, while many regular workers were competing with foreign workers who work at much lower wages. This has resulted in a decrease in real wages....read more at www.teller-s.com
ABOUT TELLERS
SOCIAL ISSUES x CREATIVE MEDIA DEFEATS INDIFFERENCE
In the long history of medias, we have been watching all social issues.
While there are people who take action on them, many remain hampered by their unreality.
We believe that indifference cannot be defeated by relying only on individual ethics and empathy.
The mission of TELLERS is to change consciousness of people by the new value axis of COOLNESS and create a society which allows more casual action for social issues by creative power.
先進国における貧困の複雑性
これまで「経済大国」として語られてきたアメリカ合衆国と日本が、実は「貧困大国」であると聞かされたら、驚かれるであろうか。
事実を指摘する前に、まず、貧困とはなにかといった、きちんとした定義を示す必要があるだろう。貧困の定義は「絶対的貧困」と「相対的貧困」とに分かれている。絶対的貧困というのは、過去には、健康を維持するための最低限のカロリーや栄養素を摂取できない人たち、簡単に言えば「毎日ちゃんと食べることができない人たち」のことだと言われてきたが、最近は「食べ物を買うお金も充分にない人」を指すようになってきている。自給自足で食べている人は、ある意味、経済活動に参加していないと見なされるわけだ。２０１５年に国連と世界銀行が合同で発表した「貧困ライン」は、１人１日あたりの所得が１．２５ドル以下としている。年収に換算すると４５０ドル前後で、世界の人口およそ７２億人のうち、５人に１人に当たる約１４億人が該当するとされる。これに対して相対的貧困というのは、その国の手取り平均所得の中央値（もっとも多くの人数が含まれる層。平均値とは似て非なるものである）に対して、５０％以下の所得しかない人を指す。
冒頭で述べた通り、これまで「豊かな国」と思われてきたアメリカ合衆国と日本が、今やこの相対的貧困層が占める比率の高さにおいて、G7（日米欧主要７カ国）の中で１位と２位である。米国は１７％強、日本は１６％弱だ。OECD（経済協力開発機構）３６カ国の中でも合衆国は２位（１位イスラエル）、日本は７位である（いずれも２０１７年の統計）ただ、いずれもGDPが大きく年収の中央値も高いという点は、見ておく必要がある。日本の場合で言うと、年収およそ２万５０００ドル（２５０万円強）でも相対的貧困と定義される場合がある。絶対的貧困は年収４５０ドル前後であることを考えてみるとよい。どうして、このようなことになったのか。
１９８０年代以降、新自由主義と呼ばれる経済政策を掲げる政府が相次いで誕生した。米国のレーガン政権、英国のサッチャー政権、そして日本の中曽根政権である。鉄道など公共性の高い事業も相次いで民営化され、同時進行的に経済のグローバル化ということが言われはじめた。人（労働者と言ってもよい）、物、資金、そして情報が、国境を越えて移動するのが当たり前になってきたわけだ。この結果、ＩＴ産業などグローバルなビジネスで巨万の富を手にする人が出てきた一方、地道に働くことしかできない人たちは、より安い賃金で働く諸外国の労働者との競争にさらされ、実質賃金はどんどん目減りして行くこととなったのである。...read more at www.teller-s.com