Poverty in Austrian Galicia was extreme, particularly in the late 19th century. The reasons included little interest in reform from the major landholders and the Austrian government, population growth resulting in small peasant plots, lack of education, primitive agricultural techniques, and a vicious circle of chronic malnutrition; famine; and disease, reducing productivity. Poverty in the province was so widespread that the term "Galician misery" ("nędza galicyjska") or "Galician poverty" ("bieda galicyjska") has become proverbial, and the poverty and regular famines in the region were often compared to the situation in British Ireland.