Poverty on the Islands of Vanuatu is not much different statistically than that of third world nations and may be even a little better than most. What makes the experience of poverty different on an island nation is the cost of getting goods and services from the mainland, natives to the island often make do with what is on hand and rely on traditional methods of doing things like laundry and transportation for instance rather than rely on goods and services from off the island. Being secluded from other nations in this way means less influence of political turmoil in other third world nations and contributes to the way poverty is experienced as well.