Poverty in the world and in Turkey and the fight against poverty

In recent years; poverty which is an important agenta item of development process is in the content of the economics studies. With the increasing globalization since the second half of the 20th century, while it has been claimed that the world is living its richest time period; poverty has become one of the most important problems for both underdeveloped and developed countries. Two billion and five hundred millions of the people live under 2 US dollars which has been determined by the World Bank as the poverty line. One billion and two hundred million of people live under 1 US dollar which has been determined as the hunger line.İn 2009, %0.48 of the individuals namely 339 thousands of people live below the hunger line including only food expenditures, %18.08 of the individuals namely 12 million 751 thousands of people live below the poverty line including food and non food expendıtures in Turkey. Human Development Index (HDI) developed by United Nations Developmet Program (UNDP) is an index aiming to measure human development by taking into account education and health indicators besides the one related to income. Despite the notable improvements recorded in economic situation in recent years, Turkey?s ranking on HDI lags behind that of income. The HDI value of Turkey is 0.679 which positions the country at 83 out of 169 countries according to 2010 figures.When Turkey?s poverty profile is examined, it is seen that poverty changes directly (positively) with the household size, indirectly (negatively) with the education level. The handicapped people, children and retired people are among the most vulnerable and fragile groups in Turkey. Also, poverty, intensity in casual, unpaid family workers, people who live in rural areas, experienced.Key Words: Poverty, Poverty Rate.