This mobility between those above and those below the poverty line is important in redefining the poor as the high turnover of those highly vulnerable individuals rather than merely chronically poor. This temporary phenomenon is also confirmed in both South and East Asia by ICRISAT. Walker and Ryan carried out studies in India in the late eighties and revealed that approximately twenty five percent of households moved out of poverty annually between 1970 and 1980. This pattern of transition in industrialised countries is often due to the lack of safeguards for the vulnerable experiencing temporary problems. Both short-term and chronic poverty serve to reinforce the notion of class inequality. The poor are not provided with the resources to either safeguard their passage into poverty or to avail of policies that would serve to improve their assets and entitlements in order that there is flexibility in their mobility from poverty for good. Despite benefits being in place in the Welfare State of the UK for example the poor population is on the increase. .
Poverty can be defined in terms of income-based, consumption-based or multi-dimensional approaches to its measurement. The multi-faceted nature of poverty points out the importance of integrating these qualitative and quantitative approaches. Baulch and McCulloch on gathering data analysis from numerous studies showed that consumption-based poverty is a more stable measure of poverty status. The correlates of poverty status are usually defined using either a poverty profile or a poverty status regression. The poverty profile identifies the characteristics of the poor using a tabulation approach, which in turn usually does not allow more than one correlate to vary simultaneously. Conversely, poverty status regressions analyse the correlates of poverty in a multivariate framework. The variables used to establish poverty status regressions are outside that of a household's poverty status, namely where one lives, household size and composition, asset ownership, etc.