Unlike here where we all suffer the sight of streetkids tripping over the ragged mythical girl child in pursuit of the mythical dollar a day poverty in the West is cushioned by the large near universal middle class. In the places Africans frequent,schools,suburbs and large cities true material deprivation is rarely encountered especially in societies where those called poor own flat screens.
However things are changing all over the West. The PIIGS are now experiencing African unemployment levels while in the US a totally new development is becoming normalised;the tent city,the American version of our very own infamous Kibera.

The twin housing and banking crisis in 2008 sparked off hitherto unseen consequences which are still to be understood. For the first time ever in America the middle class faced problems that were previously reserve of the true poor-homelessness and hunger while drastically shrinking urban budgets led to near 3rd world situations.
In LA,inner city schools reported shortages of everything from textbooks to chalk,widespread use of cars as temporary homes encouraged by a statewide night 'safe parking' program in churches and homes now worth as little as 20% of precrisis value.

http://karanjazplace..com/2012/08/is-america-in-terminal-decline.html

Before their authorities could camouflage poverty related statistics but methinks that time has past. Example winter cold deaths. These are actually citizens who couldn't afford heating bills and therefore froze to death-is that not a death directly attributable to want? As irrevocably as any Somali or Sudanese baby,the cause of death was material want-not so?
That's not how official statistics recognise them though. There were 25,400 deaths caused by cold weather last winter, according to the Office for National Statistics, with most of the deceased aged 75 and over.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14572216
As the real economic depression sets in expect more such reminders of a new reality-the Oyibos are headed down while the South rises inexorably. Its simply the way of the world.

''Poverty Is Returning To Europe'' says Unilever.

http://www.businessinsider.com/one-of-europes-biggest-companies-is-marketing-toward-increasing-poverty-in-the-eurozone-2012-8

At times when people come up with some definition on what poverty means, I laugh. The fact is poverty is a very complicated topic that goes beyond what some put down as what constitutes poverty or just $2 per day. Development Economists are still yet to answer some very important questions about poverty.

So before you rejoice that poverty is killing some people in the Euro zone to make yourselves feel good, firstly, note that there is a distinction between absolute and relative poverty. As Clunies-Ross et al. (2009) put it, "peoples sense of well-being is inevitably conditioned by the conditions that they see around them, and what they have come to expect". In other words, what constitutes poverty in the UK may not be the same as what we call poverty in Africa.

We then view poverty in its various aspects- as inability to satisfy basic needs or lack of capacities and capabilities as defined by Sen (1999) in his work "development as freedom". Poverty could also be tied to vulnerability or as unjust deprivation.

And that should be your major concern. Work to reduce the number of vulnerable and deprived people in your environment, that should be your main focus. They are working, what are you doing? That is what you should ask yourselves and not unnecessarily obsess yourselves about their own concerns.

ballabriggs: At times when people come up with some definition on what poverty means, I laugh. The fact is poverty is a very complicated topic that goes beyond what some put down as what constitutes poverty or just $2 per day. Development Economists are still yet to answer some very important questions about poverty.

So before you rejoice that poverty is killing some people in the Euro zone to make yourselves feel good, firstly, note that there is a distinction between absolute and relative poverty. As Clunies-Ross et al. (2009) put it, "peoples sense of well-being is inevitably conditioned by the conditions that they see around them, and what they have come to expect". In other words, what constitutes poverty in the UK may not be the same as what we call poverty in Africa.

We then view poverty in its various aspects- as inability to satisfy basic needs or lack of capacities and capabilities as defined by Sen (1999) in his work "development as freedom". Poverty could also be tied to vulnerability or as unjust deprivation.

And that should be your major concern. Work to reduce the number of vulnerable and deprived people in your environment, that should be your main focus. They are working, what are you doing? That is what you should ask yourselves and not unnecessarily obsess yourselves about their own concerns.

Negro,its an observation NOT AN OBSESSION which I think is of interest. People are literally dying of poverty here and in the West. If you can add comparative PPP concepts to explain deeper Western and African poverty it would be appreciated instead of imputing improper motives.

HAAIYYA! Poverty is increasing exponentially in America. In fact in the last 5 years the number of homeless kids has increased a massive 60%!

nd Poverty USA says that a total of 1.6 million children slept either in a homeless shelter or in some other form of emergency housing at some point last year

These are a few of hundreds of tent cities scattered all over the US-not just the West,East or flyover country. This is a problem of millions of formerly middle class unemployable citizens who've lost everything in the new zero growth economy.

Camp Hope, Las Cruces, New Mexico [1]
Camp Quixote, Olympia, Washington State[2]
Camp Take Notice, Ann Arbor, Michigan[3]
Dignity Village, Portland, Oregon
Opportunity Village, Eugene, Oregon
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Tent City, Phoenix, Arizona
New Jack City and Little Tijuana, Fresno, California[2]
Nickelsville, located in Seattle[2][4]
Right 2 Dream Too, Portland, Oregon[5]
River Haven,[6] Ventura County, California[7][8]
Safe Ground, Sacramento, California[2]
The Jungle, San Jose, California[2]
Temporary Homeless Service Area (THSA), Ontario, California[2]
Tent City (100+ residents) of Lakewood, New Jersey[9][10]
Tent City, Avenue A and 13th Street, Lubbock, Texas[11]
Tent City, New Jersey forest[12]

http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=139392

Yes,nairalanders! Its that bad.