BELIZE NEW POVERTY RATING!

** A local TOUCAN, the National Bird of Belize.
** Workers coming to Hillview, to work in construction, from Bullet Tree Falls in Western Belize, Cayo District.
** Local parrot in Hillview, Green Parrot Valley in Western Belize



NEW ROUGH POVERTY STANDARD USED BY GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE

It has been announced in the newspapers that anybody below $10 Bz ( $5 usa ) per day, is regarded by the government as being in poverty in Belize.
That puts 80% of my two suburbs here in Hillview on the slope of Green Parrot Valley and Santa Cruz nearby, another suburb of SANTA ELENA TOWN, in Western Belize, in the poverty level.
The normal level of income around here is around $80 Bz, or $40 usa per week for a family of five persons. A husband who works, wife and three children. Many don't make that much. For those, the diet is mostly tortillas and beans. Many cannot afford electricity ( use kerosen lamps), running water ( use rain vats to catch water), or cooking gas and still cook on open firewood campfires. I wouldn't actually call us POOR though! We have pet dogs, raise chickens, grow food, and we have SPRING WEATHER between 75 F and 85 F most of the year. To have any cash flow at all is middle class. We are a relatively wealthy middle class, local family and our spending living costs available are around $200 Bz ( $100 usa ) a week for a family of three. I certainly think my life is better here than the majority of people I've met, living in Canada or the USA, or even Europe. I've traveled in all of these places and even tried living there. Not for me though, I like it better here.