History Main / NoPoverty

A setting with No Poverty has no poor. Take a moment to parse that sentence. Something which has eluded human civilization has been achieved: this is a world where no one is homeless, everyone eats three full meals a day, and society casts no one out. The elderly, physically and mentally ill are cared for, and just about everyone willing has ways to contribute to the society despite not being forced to. Either the social structure is no longer a pyramid at all, or it's a hierarchy with an exceptionally wide and inclusive base which is not a bad place to be and does not differ qualitatively from higher layers. Considering inequality is as old as human society itself, the authors are unlikely to take lightly such a change to the human condition; it's usually treated as a pretty big deal. The weight and appeal of this idea is such that many writers will use it as the central premise to their setting, and may even pen a full-blown AuthorTract about the way their {{Utopia}} came to be, is organized, and may yet be improved still.

Usually the key to a post-scarcity future revolves around technology. Maybe AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome, TheSingularity brought total equality, {{matter replicator}}s and infinite energy machines made scarcity disappear. Other authors are convinced that we don't even need that and it's a matter of better distributing what humanity already has; thus, their works feature an AuthorAvatar revolutionary philosopher/economist showing up to teach humanity a new way to go about civilization that doesn't marginalize anyone. Whatever the case, someone(s) have made it so that characters can only be poor or indigent by choice, and can almost effortlessly access a support network that would elevate them out of it. If characters native to this setting encounter a vagrant or someone in poverty (this may require TimeTravel, visiting alien worlds, or going to a remote and uncivilized place) they'll be confused and horrified at the concept (and running into active slavery will cause [[BerserkButton fits of rage]]).

And then there's always the {{subver|tedTrope}}sion where the lack of poverty was achieved at the cost of society becoming a {{Dystopia}}.

* The Qunari in ''Franchise/DragonAge'', due to their staggeringly totalitarian society that slots every individual into their role and forces them to stick with it for the good of the entire society. They don't have poverty in the same way that a bee hive doesn't have poverty.
* The "Eudaimonic" Future Society in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' is stated to be this, representing a "perfect" post-scarcity society of no wants or lacks where everyone is allowed (and encouraged) to fulfill their potential for maximum happiness. The only problem with it (gameplay-speaking) is that human life and happiness is held so high that waging war becomes more difficult because nobody wants to kill or create things that kill.
* The town of Jidoor in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has only middle-class and wealthy townsfolk, is the only town with an auction house, and has a mansion that is owned by a wealthy man who collects art. One of the townspeople you can speak to says that the reason Jidoor has no poor people is that everyone drove them out, which also caused said poor people to form the WretchedHive town of Zozo.

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Expect these kinds of worlds to be called out as {{Mary Suetopia}}s. Authors can potentially minimize this trope and use it only as a minor part of the {{Backstory}} of their setting, making only passing references to how it was achieved. This is likely a form of ConservationOfDetail to avoid distracting viewers from the focus of the story (like space exploration or magical adventures). The risk here is that treating it ''too'' glibly may make viewers lose their WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief "Wait, you're telling me {{nanomachines}} made everyone rich? How?!" Furthermore, an additional issue that is rarely pointed out is that even with an environment in which everyone has more money, there would still likely be an inequality of income. It would just be that there would be more goods overall and the rich would now have even higher extravagant displays of wealth, but no one would particularly care about that as everyone's needs and most of the wants are satisfied.

A setting with No Poverty has no poor. Take a moment to parse that sentence. Something which has eluded human civilization has been achieved: this is a world where no one is homeless, everyone eats three full meals a day, and society casts no one out. The elderly, physically and mentally ill are cared for, and just about everyone willing has ways to contribute to the society despite not being forced to. Either the social structure is no longer a pyramid at all, or it's a hierarchy with an exceptionally wide and inclusive base which is not a bad place to be and does not differ qualitatively from higher layers. Considering inequality is as old as human society itself, the authors are unlikely to take lightly such a change to the human condition; it's usually treated as a pretty big deal. The weight and appeal of this idea is such that many writers will use it as the central premise to their setting, and may even pen a full blown AuthorTract about the way their {{Utopia}} came to be, is organized, and may yet be improved still.

* There was a hidden tribe in Africa in ''ComicBook/{{Planetary}}'' that lived in an AdvancedAncientAcropolis with no poverty and super advanced science.

* ''Film/HotFuzz'' has Sandford in Gloucestershire. It seemingly has no poverty or crime problem whatsoever, being the living [[StepfordSuburbia ideal]] of any English village. [[spoiler: It's revealed there is a very grim reason for that-everyone who doesn't fit into this gets secretly murdered.]]
* ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'': Picard tells Lily, a 21st century woman, that material wealth is not an issue in his time, and that money doesn't exist (though other statements in the franchise [[ContinuitySnarl contradict that latter part]] a bit).

* In ''[[http://www.ansible.co.uk/books/3mill.html The Third Millenium: A History of the World 2000 - 3000 A.D.]]'', virtually the entire population of the world is middle class by the end of the millennium. While this was partially due to technological and political reasons, the death of the "lost billion" in the 22nd century and the radical global tax code changes of the 28th century (which effectively exiled most of the planet's super - wealthy offworld) also played a critical role.

* Played with in Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel'' where health care, accommodation and education are universal and nobody goes hungry, except that what lower-class people get to eat and where they have to live, although nourishing and clean, is still not up to the same standards as more valued members of society.

* Played with in ''Literature/TheDispossessed''. Anarres, being inhabited by anarcho-syndicalists, has no wealth disparity, and no 'poor' by definition. All resources are shared as equally as possible and everyone participates in the system as much as they can; no-one is turned away and no-one is forced to fend for themselves. What makes this complicated is that Anarres is barely habitable to humans, so everyone on the planet live in what is considered a state of poverty by the standards of other, more inhabitable planets. When protagonist Shevek visits neighboring Urras, he's struck both by how incredibly wealthy its people are are owing simply to the planet they settled on, and how much they're unable to share said wealth equitably.

* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'' it's mentioned that poverty is effectively no longer an issue in 24th century Earth. By the time of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' [[{{Teleportation}} transporters]] and replicators make most things so cheap that money is kind of pointless, making this one of the reasons people of the 24th century tend to question the moral character of anyone from the 21st century. As the series creator put it, Earth has become a world where "no one is hungry, and no one's in need, and all of the children know how to read."

* The human Cylons in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' by virtue of being purpose built machines. It's a notable contrast to the humans in the rag-tag fleet, every Cylon is clean, has nice clothes, is well fed, has access to a direct democracy that votes on all issues, and there isn't even any real hierarchy. Contrast to the humans who, even before the Cylons attacked the colonies, had poverty, inequality, and disenfranchisement. Even the Cylon's ships are self-sustaining, each able to provide enough food and water for the entire crew indefinitely. Where it gets subverted is [[spoiler: that the Centurion {{Killer Robot}}s and Raider automated space fighters have been locked into non-sapience to use as foot soldiers. This along with the SpaceshipGirl Hybrid piloting each Basestar, who are trapped in the role and physiologically unable to leave.]]

* ''VideoGame/HostileWatersAntaeusRising'' has widespread use of nano-assemblers that can create practically everything from its base components and (apparently solar- and fusion-based) energy. This has led to eliminating poverty by ensuring ready access to the assemblers for anyone: Anyone capable of accessing an assembler can obtain food, clothing and basic healthcare needs freely. The other result was the end of capitalism, money and the private market.

* The "Eudaimonic" Future Society in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'' is stated to be this, representing a "perfect" post-scarcity society of no wants or lacks where everyone is allowed (and encouraged) to fulfil their potential for maximum happiness. The only problem with it (gameplay-speaking) is that human life and happiness is held so high that waging war becomes more difficult because nobody wants to kill or create things that kill.
* The town of Jidoor in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' has only middle class and wealthy townsfolk, is the only town with an auction house, and has a mansion that is owned by a wealthy man who collects art. One of the townspeople you can speak to says that the reason Jidoor has no poor people is because everyone drove them out, which also caused said poor people to form the WretchedHive town of Zozo.

* Naboo in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' Prequel Trilogy. The government figures and civilians alike dress like Venetian noblemen from the Renaissance, and even the Gungans, supposedly ostracized from society, live in glittering bubble-cities underwater. It makes Amidala's later claims of widespread economic depression, to the point of starvation, very hard to swallow, as the city always looks unblemished and no such hardship is ever shown. This is largely due to the fact that it is stated to be a capital planet. In ''Attack of the Clones'', the miners on the moons of Naboo were initially blamed for the attempted assassination attempt on Padme, so there was some unrest due to this inequality presumably.

* Played with in ''Literature/TheDispossessed''. Anarres, being inhabited by anarcho-syndicalists, has no wealth disparity, and no 'poor' by definition. All resources are shared as equally as possible and everyone participates in the system as much as they can; no-one is turned away and no-one is forced to fend for themselves. What makes this complicated is that Anarres is barely habitable to humans, so everyone on the planet live in what is considered a state of poverty by the standards of other, more inhabitable planets. When protagonist Shen visits neighboring Urras, he's struck both by how incredibly wealthy the Urrans are owing simply to the planet they settled on, and how much they're unable to share said wealth equitably.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice You Only Move Twice]]" Homer gets headhunted for a job in the Company Town of Cypress Creek. In order to encourage the family to move he shows them a video made by the company which displays signs of No Poverty. It shows an ugly suburb transforming into a perfect community; parking meters become trees, abandoned warehouses become coffee shops, and a bum becomes a mailbox. Somewhat justified by Scorpio being a megalomaniacal Franchise/JamesBond villain who's ''ridiculously'' good at [[NoDelaysForTheWicked administration]] - enough so that from that one town, he manages to '''conquer the West Coast.'''

* In ''Franchise/StarTrek'' it's mentioned that poverty is effectively no longer an issue in 24th century Earth. By the time of ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]'' [[TeleportersAndTransporters transporters]] and replicators make most things so cheap that money is kind of pointless, making this one of the reasons people of the 24th century tend to question the moral character of anyone from the 21st century. As the series creator put it, Earth has become a world where "no one is hungry, and no one's in need, and all of the children know how to read."

* Played with in''Literature/TheDispossessed''. Anarres, being inhabited by anarcho-syndicalists, has no wealth disparity, and no 'poor' by definition. All resources are shared as equally as possible and everyone participates in the system as much as they can; no-one is turned away and no-one is forced to fend for themselves. What makes this complicated is that Anarres is barely habitable to humans, so everyone on the planet live in what is considered a state of poverty by the standards of other, more inhabitable planets. When protagonists Shen visits neighboring Urras, he's struck both by how incredibly wealthy the Urrans are owing simply to the planet they settled on, and how much they're unable to share said wealth equitably.

Usually the key to a post-scarcity future revolves around technology. Maybe AlternateUniverseReedRichardsIsAwesome, TheSingularity brought total equality, {{matter replicator}}s and infinite energy machines made scarcity disappear. Other authors are convinced that we don't even need that and it's a matter of distributing what humanity already has; thus, their works feature an AuthorAvatar revolutionary philosopher/economist showing up to teach humanity a new way to go about civilization that doesn't marginalize anyone. Whatever the case, someone(s) have made it so that characters can only be poor or indigent by choice, and can almost effortlessly access a support network that would elevate them out of it. If characters native to this setting encounter a vagrant or someone in poverty (this may require TimeTravel, visiting alien worlds, or going to a remote and uncivilized place) they'll be confused and horrified at the concept (and running into active slavery will cause fits).

** Empires who are Egalitarian or Fanatic Egalitarian can implement this through the 'Utopian Abundance' species rights, a PostScarcity economy which provides every single citizen of that species with everything they might need. If the Egalitarians are also Xenophobic, however, [[SubvertedTrope they are still able to impoverish, mistreat or enslave species that aren't the founder species even as said founders all live in a Utopia]].
** Empires with the [[CommieLand 'Shared Burdens']] civic (which must be Fanatic Egalitarian and not Xenophobic) have this trope enforced: All pops in the empire can either run the 'Shared Burdens' rights (which is exclusive to them) or 'Utopian Abundance' rights, with all other species rights (which are stratified by class to one degree or another) being banned. Species under 'Shared Burdens' still have scarcity, but there is no poverty because there is inequality.
** All organic species living in a Rogue Servitors empire are locked into the 'Mandatory Pampering' treatment and live in specially designed 'Organic Paradises' where they are provided with everything by the Servitors... [[GildedCage That is to say, everything except the freedom to leave their paradises]].

* ''Film/HotFuzz'' has Sandford in Gloucestershire. Seemingly has no poverty or crime problem whatsoever, being the living [[StepfordSuburbia ideal]] of any English village. [[spoiler: Turns out there is a very grim reason for that.]]

* In ''[[http://www.ansible.co.uk/books/3mill.html The Third Millenium: A History of the World 2000 - 3000 A.D.]]'', virtually the entire population of the world is middle class by the end of the millenium. While this was partially due to technological and political reasons, the death of the "lost billion" in the 22nd century and the radical global tax code changes of the 28th century (which effectively exiled most of the planet's super - wealthy offworld) also played a critical role.

* In the Literature/VorkosiganSaga, there are no really poor people on Beta Colony, their understanding of the term refers to people ''without a computer in the home'', and even that is unheard of since access to information is guaranteed by the government. Cordelia has trouble getting her head around the concept on Barrayar, where illiteracy and starvation are everyday occurances in the rural areas.

* The {{backstory}} of ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' establishes the Age of Legends to have been like this. While there was still inequality, nobody lacked food or shelter.

* [[Literature/Island1962 Pala]], thanks to philosophical enlightenment, population control and advanced agriculture.

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* Naboo in ''StarWars''. The government figures and civilians alike dress like Venetian noblemen from the Renaissance, and even the Gungans, supposedly ostracized from society, live in glittering bubble-cities underwater. It makes Amidala's later claims of widespread economic depression, to the point of starvation, very hard to swallow, as the city always looks unblemished and no such hardship is ever shown. This is largely due to the fact that it is stated to be a capital planet. In ''Attack of the Clones'', the miners on the moons of Naboo were initially blamed for the attempted assassination attempt on Padme, so there was some unrest due to this inequality presumably.

* ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'': Picard tells a 21st century woman that material wealth is not an issue in his time, and that money doesn't exist (though other statements in the franchise [[CanonDiscontinuity contradict that latter part]] a bit).

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* ''TheSimpsons'': in "Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice" Homer gets headhunted for a job in the Company Town of Cypress Creek. In order to encourage the family to move he shows them a video made by the company which displays signs of No Poverty. It shows an ugly suburb transforming into a perfect community; parking meters become trees, abandoned warehouses become coffee shops, and a bum becomes a mailbox. Somewhat justified by Scorpio being a megalomaniacal Franchise/JamesBond villain who's ''ridiculously'' good at [[NoDelaysForTheWicked administration]] - enough so that from that one town, he manages to '''conquer the West Coast.'''

* Naboo in ''StarWars''. The government figures and civilians alike dress like Venetian noblemen from the Renaissance, and even the Gungans, supposedly ostracized from society, live in glittering bubble-cities underwater. It makes Amidala's later claims of widespread economic depression, to the point of starvation, very hard to swallow, as the city always looks unblemished and no such hardship is ever shown. This is largely due to the fact that it is stated to be a capital planet. In Attack of the Clones, the miners on the moons of Naboo were initially blamed for the attempted assassination attempt on Padme, so there was some unrest due to this inequality presumably.

A setting with No Poverty has no poor. Take a moment to parse that sentence. Something which has eluded human civilization has been achieved: this is a world where no one is homeless, everyone eats three full meals a day, and society casts no one out. The elderly, physically and mentally ill are cared for, and just about everyone willing has ways to contribute to the society despite not being forced to. Either the social structure is no longer a pyramid at all, or it's a hierarchy with an exceptionally wide and inclusive base which is not a bad place to be and does not differ qualitatively from higher layers. Considering inequality is as old as human society itself, the authors are unlikely to take lightly such a change to human condition; it's usually treated as a pretty big deal. The weight and appeal of this idea is such that many writers will use it as the central premise to their setting, and may even pen a full blown AuthorTract about the way their {{Utopia}} came to be, is organized, and may yet be improved still.

* ''HostileWaters'' has widespread use of nano-assemblers that can create practically everything from its base components and (apparently solar- and fusion-based) energy. This has led to eliminating poverty by ensuring ready access to the assemblers for anyone: Anyone capable of accessing an assembler can obtain food, clothing and basic healthcare needs freely. The other result was the end of capitalism, money and the private market.

* ''Voyage from Yesteryear'' by James P. Hogan is set on a planet where all physical resources are abundantly available. Consequently, the inhabitants never bothered to develop a monetary system.

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* The richest countries from the OPEC, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, thanks to absurd amount of oil money.

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* ''TheSimpsons'': in "Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice" Homer gets headhunted for a job in the Company Town of Cypress Creek. In order to encourage the family to move he shows them a video made by the company which displays signs of No Poverty. It shows an ugly suburb transforming into a perfect community; parking meters become trees, abandoned warehouses become coffee shops, and a bum becomes a mailbox. Somewhat justified by Scorpio being a megalomaniacal Franchise/JamesBond villain who's ''ridiculously'' good at [[NoDelaysForTheWicked administration]] - enough so that from that one town, he manages to '''conquer the West Coast.''

* ''TheSimpsons'': in "You Only Move Twice" Homer gets headhunted for a job in a Company Town. In order to encourage the family to move he shows them a video made by the company which displays signs of No Poverty. It shows an ugly suburb transforming into a perfect community; parking meters become trees, abandoned warehouses become coffee shops, and a bum becomes a mailbox.