Meeting basic needs and wants

According to a fresh report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation “According to members of the public, a single person in Britain today needs to earn at least £13,400 a year before tax to afford a basic but acceptable standard of living. The minimum income is above the official “poverty line” of 60% median income, for nearly all household groups. This shows that almost everybody classified as being in poverty has income too low to pay for a standard of living regarded as “adequate” by all members of the public who took part in this research.”

This research will be terrific to use in the classroom when teaching about living standards, positive and normative statements, and disagreements between people about what constitutes a modest but adequate income required to meet our daily needs and wants. Crucially it tries to identify how we should define a minimum income standard.

“A minimum standard of living in Britain today includes, but is more than just, food, clothes and shelter. It is about having what you need in order to have the opportunities and choices necessary to participate in society. The minimum seeks to exclude items that may be regarded as ‘aspirational’ – it is about fulfilling needs and not wants.”

The full copy of the research is available here in pdf format