Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457): Topic: Poverty and inequality — Revision Notes

For full explanations and a worked paragraph, read the poverty and inequality study guide first.

These notes follow the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457) syllabus for examination in 2025, 2026 and 2027, Version 2 (published April 2025). Poverty and inequality is one of the topics in the section 3 topic list, used for Component 1 Written Exam, Component 2 Individual Report and Component 3 Team Project. The syllabus says knowledge of content is not assessed. These notes show how to use the topic to practise the assessed skills: research, analysis, evaluation, reflection, communication and collaboration.

Go back to the Global Perspectives hub or the 0457 checklist at any time. When you are ready, try the poverty and inequality practice questions.

The skills in one table

Assessment objective (syllabus name)	What it means for this topic	Components
AO1 Research, analysis and evaluation	Find issues inside the topic; analyse causes and consequences; judge sources, evidence and reasoning; assess actions	1, 2, 3
AO2 Reflection	Consider perspectives of people in poverty, taxpayers, charities and governments objectively and with empathy; justify your own view	2, 3
AO3 Communication and collaboration	Present arguments clearly, cite and reference, contribute to the Team Project	2, 3

Component 1 is 100% AO1, so the Written Exam is about using the sources well, not about what you know.

How each component uses this topic

• Component 1 Written Exam: the sources may be about poverty or inequality. You analyse their information and perspectives, evaluate a piece of research and suggest how to test a claim, judge the quality of arguments, and assess actions.
• Component 2 Individual Report: you choose a global issue that divides opinion, such as how best to reduce inequality, and research local and/or national and global perspectives before proposing one course of action.
• Component 3 Team Project: your team picks a local issue, such as the cost of school uniform, then plans, carries out and measures an action.

Key terms

Term	Definition	Why it matters in a source
Issue	“An important subject or problem for discussion” (syllabus)	Poverty is a topic; “should cash come with conditions?” is an issue
Perspective	“A viewpoint on an issue based on evidence and reasoning” (syllabus)	Judge it by its evidence and reasoning
Absolute poverty	Not enough to meet basic needs	Fixed line; can fall as an economy grows
Relative poverty	Much less than most people in your society	Moves with typical income; can stay high even as living standards rise
Inequality	Uneven spread of income, wealth or opportunity	Not the same as poverty
Income	Money coming in over time	Can change quickly
Wealth	What you own	Builds up across generations
Gini coefficient	0 = total equality, 1 = total inequality	One number hides who gains and who loses
Median	The middle value	Less pulled by very high earners than the mean
Multidimensional poverty	Poverty measured by health, schooling and living standards as well as money	Gives a different picture from income alone

Real examples at a glance

You do not need to learn these. They are here so you can evaluate them if they appear in a source, or use them as starting points for research.

Who / what	What it is	Key point	One evaluation point
World Bank international poverty line	Global measure of extreme poverty	Updated in June 2025 to $3.00 a day (2021 prices)	A single global line cannot reflect very different costs of living within countries
UN Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 10	Global targets adopted in 2015	Goal 1: end poverty in all its forms everywhere. Goal 10: reduce inequality within and among countries	Goals set direction but do not force any government to act
Multidimensional Poverty Index (UNDP and OPHI)	Counts deprivations in health, education and living standards	Shows poverty that income data can miss	Needs survey data that some countries collect rarely
Bolsa Família, Brazil (2003)	Conditional cash transfer	Cash linked to school attendance and health check-ups	Conditions can shut out families who cannot meet them
Benazir Income Support Programme, Pakistan (2008)	Cash payments to women in low-income households	Main payment unconditional, paid to women	Depends on accurate data to target the right households
Finland basic income experiment (2017–2018)	Unconditional monthly payment to unemployed people	Small employment effects; better reported wellbeing	Short, limited trial; may not scale to a whole country
Grameen Bank and Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize 2006)	Microfinance: small loans for people without bank access	Widely copied model	Randomised evaluations have generally found modest average effects on income

Must-know distinctions

• Poverty vs inequality. Poverty is about having too little. Inequality is about the gap. One can fall while the other rises.
• Absolute vs relative poverty. Two sources can disagree only because they use different measures.
• Income share vs income amount. If the economy grows, the poorest group’s share can fall while their actual income stays flat.
• Percentage vs percentage points. 50% to 70% is +20 percentage points, but a 40% rise.
• Mean vs median. A few very rich people raise the mean but barely move the median.
• Short-term relief vs long-term cause. A food bank relieves hunger now; it does not raise incomes.
• Fact vs claim vs opinion. “The scheme paid 200 families” (fact) / “the scheme cut hunger” (claim needing evidence) / “the scheme is wasteful” (opinion).
• Value vs vested interest. A value is a belief about what matters (“fairness”). A vested interest is something a person stands to gain or lose.

Mini essay plan

Typical extended question (invented): “Using the sources, assess which action would be most effective in reducing child poverty in a town.”

1. Set the criteria. Say how you will judge: effect on the cause, cost, fairness, how long the effect lasts.
2. Action 1. What it does; evidence for it from the sources; how reliable that evidence is; a limitation.
3. Action 2. Same structure. Compare directly with Action 1 (“unlike free meals, training targets income”).
4. Action 3 (if given). Same structure, briefly.
5. Weigh up. Which criteria matter most here, and why. Note trade-offs, such as reach against cost.
6. Judgement. Name one action (or a combination) and give the deciding reason. Say what evidence would change your mind.

Quick self-test

1. What does the syllabus say about knowledge of content in 0457?
2. Give the syllabus definition of a perspective.
3. What is the difference between absolute and relative poverty?
4. A Gini coefficient rises from 0.35 to 0.42. What has happened?
5. Why might a source quote the median income rather than the mean?
6. A survey at a food bank finds 80% of users skip meals. Why can you not apply this to the whole town?
7. “No child should go hungry.” Is this a fact, a value or a prediction?
8. Give one vested interest a landlords’ association might have in a debate about rent caps.
9. State one strength and one limitation of conditional cash transfers.
10. Which assessment objective makes up all of Component 1?
11. Give one reason why a food collection alone may be a weak Team Project action.
12. Write one global research question on this topic that divides opinion.

Answers

1. It is not assessed; the topics are a context for practising skills.
2. “A viewpoint on an issue based on evidence and reasoning.”
3. Absolute poverty is not meeting basic needs; relative poverty is having much less than most people in your society.
4. Income inequality has increased.
5. The median is less affected by a few very high incomes, so it better shows a typical household.
6. Food bank users are a self-selected group more likely to be in need, so the sample is not representative.
7. A value.
8. Rent caps could reduce their members’ income, so they gain from arguing against them.
9. Strength: links help to school attendance and health. Limitation: families who cannot meet conditions may lose support.
10. AO1 Research, analysis and evaluation.
11. It meets a short-term need but may not address a cause, and success is hard to measure beyond counting items. Adding a measure of impact makes it stronger.
12. For example: “Should governments give cash to people in poverty with or without conditions?”

Where marks are usually lost

• Adding outside facts about poverty instead of quoting and using the sources.
• Defining “fact” or “vested interest” in general terms without pointing to the exact words in the source.
• Treating a falling share of income as proof that people are getting poorer.
• Saying a survey is “biased” without explaining who was asked and how that skews the result.
• Describing two arguments one after the other without comparing their evidence and reasoning.
• Judging an action as “good” without criteria such as cost, reach, fairness or how long it lasts.
• Ending an extended answer with “it depends” and no final judgement.
• In the Individual Report, giving only global perspectives and no local or national one.
• In the Team Project, choosing an action with no plan for measuring success.

Official syllabus

These notes follow the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457) syllabus for examination in 2025, 2026 and 2027, Version 2 (published April 2025), sections 2, 3 and 4. Also see the Global Perspectives revision notes and the Written Exam guide.