Poverty according to experts can be defined according to the standards of a particular society at a given time, seeing that the society in question determines people's needs, what foodstuff are available. A person or a family in a society can be said to be in poverty if they lack resources to obtain the types of diet, participate in activities, and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged or approved in the society they belong to (Townsend, 1979). 

Townsend's deprivation index states that a family can be said to be in relative poverty when they haven't had a week's holiday away from home in the last 12 months, haven't had a children's party during the last birthday, does not have fresh meat as many as 4 days a week, has no refrigerator, and many other aspects which a household cannot meet according to the standards of the society.