Multidimensional Relative Poverty Standards: Paths to Formation (Using China as an Example)

This article traces the evolution of poverty standards, from the emergence of poverty research as a social problem to the current stage of poverty monitoring by international organizations. It is established that the driving force behind the process of understanding and studying poverty has been the progressive development of society, which has determined the improvement in people’s living standards and, consequently, the shift in poverty standards from absolute to multidimensional relative ones. It is determined that modern approaches to establishing the latter focus, on the one hand, on identifying the social nature of these standards and, on the other, on measuring poverty conditions using a number of indicators. The application of the multidimensional relative poverty standard in China is described, and prospects for its development in the country are outlined. It is concluded that approaches to studying this social phenomenon and the standards for its assessment are not static. They are constantly evolving and adapting to changing living conditions. Researching these approaches allows not only for a better understanding of the nature of poverty but also for the development of more effective strategies for overcoming it at the level of individual countries and the international community as a whole.