miskin

Miskin is an adjective used in Indonesian and Malay to mean poor or lacking sufficient financial resources. It is typically applied to individuals, families, or communities that do not have enough income or access to basic needs such as food, housing, health care, and education. The related noun is kemiskinan, which refers to poverty in a broader social and economic sense. In public discourse and policy, miskin is often discussed alongside measures of welfare, development, and social protection.

The word miskin is rooted in native Malay and Indonesian vocabularies and has been in use for centuries. Its exact etymology is not always clear, but it functions as a basic term in the lexicon for describing economic deprivation. Because it is commonly understood, miskin appears across official reports, academic studies, and everyday conversation.

Poverty in Indonesia and other Malay-speaking regions is typically measured by poverty lines that define minimum expenditure or income required to meet basic needs. In addition to monetary indicators, some analyses employ multidimensional poverty measures that consider health, education, and living standards to capture broader deprivation experienced by miskin households.

Policy responses to miskin commonly involve social protection programs, targeted assistance, and long-term investments in education, health, and employment opportunities. Structural factors such as regional disparities, access to services, and economic opportunity shape the persistence of miskin, informing debates about welfare, development priorities, and governance.

In everyday language, miskin can carry social stigma, so careful and respectful usage is encouraged in formal contexts.