Explanation:

Here’s how it breaks down:

- Option 1: Inequality of income

This is about how income is distributed across people in a country. When we talk about relative poverty, we often mean that some people have much less income compared to others—not that they can’t survive, but they can’t keep up with the average way of living.

- Option 2: Consumption

Relative poverty sometimes isn’t just about what you earn, but also about what you can buy or consume compared to others. Some definitions use “consumption” to measure poverty for this reason.

- Option 3: Both a and b

This combines both income and consumption. Many social scientists argue that both the amount you have and how much you can spend matter for understanding relative poverty.

This is the correct answer.

- Option 4: None of these

This one isn’t right. Relative poverty is definitely about inequality and what people can afford, not something else entirely.

So, to be clear, relative poverty is interpreted in terms of both inequality of income and consumption within a country.