World Poverty
How much money do we spend everyday?
Maybe we spend five dollars on a Starbucks on the way to school? Ten dollars on
a salad for lunch? Thirty dollars on gas on our way home? Twenty dollars on
that shirt we’ve been wanting? Or maybe we spend more? But, can you imagine
living on $2.50 everyday (Eleven, 1)? For nearly half of the world, more than
three billion people, this is a reality. But, can you further imagine that out
of those three billion people, more than 1.3 billion live on $1.90 a day, the
definition of extreme poverty (Eleven, 1). The epidemic of poverty affects all
genders, ages, races, and ethnicities worldwide. According to Compassion
International, poverty is defined as,
“Poverty
is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being
able
to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how
to
read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for future, living one day at a
time.
Poverty
is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is
powerlessness,
lack of representation and fearlessness. (What, 1)”
Based on this definition, poverty is more than just a lack
of money. It is a lack of basic needs. Let’s explore the reasons, conditions,
and possible solutions for lack of food, water, shelter, education, and health
care for people affected by the epidemic of poverty.
Poverty has
existed since the beginning. Although we see evidence of poverty in history,
global poverty was not truly recognized until the 1940s after the Second World
War (Development, 1). It is hard to
measure the exact levels of poverty from a historical standpoint since the
price of goods and services is constantly changing. Max Roser and Esteban
Ortiz-Ospina give a good example of this in their article “Global Extreme
Poverty” (Roser 1). In 1836, Nathan Rothschild was considered to be the richest
man in the world, but he died from an infection that could be cured with an
antibiotic that in today’s money would only cost a few cents (Overview 1). This
example shows how different income and consumption was hundreds of years ago.
Based on data from the past two hundred years, the chance of being born into
extreme poverty has decreased drastically (Roser 1). The number of people not
living in extreme poverty has risen from 117.44 million to 6.62 billion, and
the number of people living in extreme poverty has decreased from 964.93
million to 733.48 million (Roser 1). While these statistics might look very
encouraging, the number of people in the world has grown by 6.27 billion over
the last two hundred years, so poverty levels have actually only decreased by
approximately twenty seven percent (Roser 1).
There are many different causes of
poverty based on country and people group, but the most common causes are as
follows: inadequate water and food, conflict, inequality, climate change, and
lack of education (Nasden 1). Inadequate clean water and food can be causes and
effects of poverty. If people do not have water and food, then they can not
work. Likewise, if people do not have money, they can not buy food or water
(Top 1). Conflict is another cause for poverty. People living in countries
experiencing conflicts may experience oppression and violence causing them to
be at a higher risk for poverty. For example, the country of Syria boasted low
levels of poverty before conflicts ravished their country. Presently around
seventy percentage of the Syrian population lives below the poverty line (Top
1). Inequality is another major cause of poverty. Whether it be social, race,
gender, or tribal inequalities, these factors can cause groups or individuals to not receive
equal access to resources which can push them into poverty (Top 1). Climate
change is a cause that people may not realize. Based on data from the World
Bank, they estimate that climate change will cause 100 million people to be
considered under the poverty level in the next ten years (Top 1). Most of the
world that is considered to be in poverty relies on farming to live, so future
droughts, floods, and storms could cause them to lose everything. Finally, poor
education is a major factor in poverty. Most people that are in extreme poverty
do not have an education (Impact 1). The United Nations determined that 171
million people could leave poverty behind if they learned basic reading skills.
Just a small education opens up doors to more jobs, resources, and skills that
are vital to a person in poverty (Top 1). Through this information, we can see
that poverty has existed since the dawn of time, and there are many factors
leading to poverty.
Poverty
affects every aspect of life from individuals to families to countries to the
world. While hunger and lack of water are a major cause for poverty, it is also
an effect. Currently, almost two billion people do not have access to clean
water and 800 million will go hungry tonight (World 1). There are two different
types of hunger: protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiency
(World 1). Protein-energy malnutrition is a deficiency of protein and calories
which can lead to a lack of growth. Micronutrient deficiency is a lack of
vitamins and minerals which can lead to diseases. Children are the major
victims of hunger. Forty-five percent of all child deaths are caused by hunger
(Kozacek 1). Hunger is not just an effect in underdeveloped countries, it is in
our own backyard. Priscilla in El Paso, Texas, is a Navy Veteran and single
parent. She has three small daughters and cannot afford childcare, so she must
work only a part time job so she can take care of her family. Her family
suffers from hunger on a regular basis (Real 1). Hunger and unclean water are
both fatal effects of poverty.
Poverty
affects the health of families. Sanitation is a major problem for people in
poverty. Almost 10,000 children die everyday from infections caused by poor
sanitation (Effects 1). One example of this is Girma Mihiretu and his wife Yeshi Ali. The family lives in
Ethiopia with their six children with just a plastic sheet for a home. Girma
Mihieretu recalls the living situation, “I lived in a small and dirty house. We
didn’t have a toilet. We couldn’t help our children with money. Our children’s
health suffered every day (Effects 1).” Poverty affects families physical and
mental health.
Poverty can
fuel the fire of international terrorism and violence. Poverty causes tension
and feelings of helplessness which can lead to violence and terrorist groups
forming (Graff 1). One example of this is the country of Sierra Leone. Sierra
Leone was thought to be one of the poorest countries in the world with a per
capita GNI of only $180 (Graff 1). Per capita GNI is a countries income per
year in dollars divided by its population. In 1991, a civil war broke out among
the people of Sierra Leone, resulting in the United Nations sending 17,500 soldiers
and spending close to 2.8 billion dollars to keep peace (Graff 1). This is just
one of many countries that were driven into conflict by poverty.
People propose solutions to global
poverty almost daily, yet we still see poverty on a massive level. So what can
be implemented to eliminate poverty? First, we must correctly identify the
issues given location (Borgen 1). For example, the United States does not
necessarily deal with a lack of clean water, yet people in Africa die every day
from this. Once the problems have been identified, we can work to solve them.
While each country and even city might deal with its own unique poverty issues,
there are some solutions that can help lower global poverty.
The first
step to fight poverty is to create problem specific international and local
organizations to fight poverty (Borgen 1). These organizations can fight
poverty with a clearly identified problem and solution in mind. For example,
the organization Soles for Souls specifically focuses on providing shoes for
people in poverty (About 1). Not only do we need to create these organizations,
but we must support them. Whether that means financially, volunteering, or
providing resources, these organizations need the help of people who want to
stop poverty. But, we can’t just leave it up to the charities and churches to
end poverty. Teva Sieniki, addressed this issue in a TED talk,
“We’ve regulated poverty work to the
realms of the heart, to the Mother Teresas, to the do-gooders, to the charities
and the churches. And heart is absolutely essential, but my beef with leaving
poverty there is that it’s dismissive of
the seriousness and complexity of the problem we are trying to address.
No matter how many cans of soup or warm beds we provide, we will not solve
poverty without our brains as well. Too often we focus on the immediate human
needs without addressing the issues that create them (Talks 1).
This shows that we must all join in the fight against
poverty, not just wait on an organization to solve it (Talks 1). But, this also
leads to the next solution: we must address the issues that create poverty.
Each person that is in poverty deals with underlying problems that put them in
poverty or are keeping them in poverty. Underlying causes can be anything from
lack of education, drug or alcohol use, intergenerational poverty, or
inequality (Muse 1). If a drug addict is living in poverty, and we give him
money to help get him out of poverty, chances are a month later he will still
be in poverty because of his addiction. Before we can even think about stopping
poverty, we must break the hidden problems.
One way to
help end poverty is to break down the systems that created it. Countries try to
help end poverty by offering foreign aid, but their mindset is wrong. Foreign aid
should be offered with the intention of not needing it again (Concern 1). For
example, if someone has a drug problem and goes through rehab, the point of
rehab should be to end the addiction permanently not temporarily. The
Administer of United States
Agency for International Development, who is in charge of most federal aid,
said “I believe the purpose of foreign assistance should be ending its need to
exist. (Concern 3).” The very systems that are created to end poverty are
playing a role in keeping it alive.
Increasing
the rate of educated individuals can drastically affect poverty. The Children
International Organization said, “Education is one of the most powerful ways to reduce poverty and improve
health, gender equality, peace and stability (Facts 1).” Education can help end
poverty in many ways. First, if everyone had the same level of basic education,
inequality problems would decrease. Second, an education leads to more job
opportunities and increased wages (Borgen 6). Lastly, education helps end
conflicts. Studies show that educated people are more willing to participate in
the political process (Borgen 6). With all of these benefits from education, we
should be attacking the education problem with brutal force. By sending more
teachers, starting more schools and classes, and devoting more money to
education, we can create a major dent in poverty. There are so many different
and specific ways to help end poverty, but the main thing that needs to change
are people’s hearts. If we all devoted our time and resources to stopping
poverty and not just talking about it, we could truly end it. Nelson Mandela
said, “Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and
can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. (Can 2)”
Albert
Camus spent his life trying to answer the question, “What is the meaning of
life?” Camus would think that solutions to poverty were absurd (Albert 1).
Camus himself grew up in poverty and mentioned it in his writings and
interview, “Poverty prevented me from judging that all was well in the world
and in history, the sun taught me that history is not everything (Albert 1).”
From this statement we might question if Camus’s childhood of poverty caused
such a despairing outlook on the rest of life (Albert 1). Since he thought that
life had no meaning, Camus would probably wonder why poverty was a problem and
he might not think poverty absurd at all. Afterall, if life has no meaning,
what’s the point of trying to end poverty or not if everyone is going to die
without meaning anyway (Albert 1)? In Camus’s world, poverty is just another
way that people live for a short time before they die without a purpose.
In conclusion, poverty is a global problem that has
affected every people group since the beginning of time. The main causes of
poverty are lack of water and food, poor education, inequality, climate
changes, and conflicts. Each of these affects people in different ways, there
are many different solutions to help end these problems. While there are numerous
solutions, the main way to end poverty is to change our mindset on the problem.
If we all worked together to bring poverty to an end, we could actually stop
the continuous cycle of poverty on the world.
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