The core issue of this book is how to define and measure poverty in relatively rich countries in a way which is valid, meaningful in the context, and valuable for policy-making. The authors concentrate on the
identification
of the poor, rather than the subsequent
aggregation
of the statistics to derive an overall index of poverty—which is the focus of most recent literature. They show that poverty in developed countries cannot be understood and measured simply using current income. Those who are excluded from participation in society can be more accurately identified if broader measures of resources and direct idicators of deprivation are used. The issues are illustrated by data from a specially designed survey of a large representative sample of Irish households.