Period poverty: one in eight likely to struggle to afford sanitary products they need in next year

Period poverty is a global issue affecting those who don’t have access to safe, hygienic menstrual products, facilities and education. Those who experience period poverty are unable to purchase the menstrual products they need and in many cases, it causes them to be unable to participate in daily life.

How well does the public understand period poverty?

A third of Britons (29%) say they have never heard of the term ‘period poverty’, with men (42%) substantially more likely than women (16%) to say they have no knowledge of the term.

A further 11% of Britons have heard the term, but don’t know what it means, with men again more likely than women to say this (13% vs 9%). Overall, three in five Britons (60%) say they have heard of period poverty and claim to know what it means, including 75% of women but only 45% of men.

But are Britons’ conceptions of what constitutes ‘period poverty’ actually correct? When offered a selection of scenarios, and asked which they think fall under the banner of period poverty, Britons are most likely to think it includes the inability to afford sanitary products (78%). A further four in ten (43%) think it includes the inability to access sanitary products, while 28% think it an inability to access menstrual healthcare counts as period poverty, and 20% say it includes the inability to access menstrual health education.

In fact, according to campaigners and researchers, all four scenarios come under the umbrella of ‘period poverty’, although just 17% of Britons gave such an answer, including 24% of women and 11% of men. Among the slightly more than half of Britons who claimed to know what period poverty is, only 24% correctly identified all four scenarios as fitting under the description.