What is poverty?

In this task, I will be writing about poverty in general. I have found most of the texts below from different websites, I will make sure to put the sources under.

We human beings need water, food, medical care, etc. to survive. Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is much more than just not having enough money.

“Poverty does not know your age, or the colour of your skin, he
does not even care about the poor state that you are in.
He does not want to know, if you are hungry, or you are cold, he just
keeps calm and quiet, while head bent.
Many, who have met him, are still with him today, not through
their own choices, but by him not giving way.
He knows you have little money, and this he never defends, he knows
you will have to borrow, from some of your friends.
He does not even blink an eye, when you are worse off than before, he
swears, that it is your own fault, you must have known the score”

(https://www.google.no/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant &ion=1 &espv=2 &ie=UTF-8#q=Poverty+does+not+know+your+age%2C+or+the+colour+of+your+skin)

Poverty is a cycle for individuals and for countries.

Things that make you poor in the first place create other disadvantages that keeps you in poverty.

The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way:

“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 or write. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.
Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to action -- for the poor and the wealthy alike -- a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities.”

In addition to lack of money, poverty is about not being able to participate in recreational activities; not being able to send your children on a day trip with their schoolmates or to birthday parties; not being able to pay for medications for an illness. These are all costs of being poor. Those people who are barely able to pay for their food and shelter simply can’t consider these other expenses. When people are excluded within a society, when they are not well educated and when they have a higher incidence of illness, there are negative consequences for society. We all pay the price for poverty. The increased cost on the health system, the justice system and other systems that provide supports to those living in poverty has an impact on our economy.

While much progress has been made in measuring and analysing poverty, the World Bank Organization is doing more work to identify indicators for the other dimensions of poverty. This work includes identifying social indicators to track education, health, access to services, vulnerability, and social exclusion.

There is no one cause of poverty, and the results of it are different in every case. Poverty varies considerably depending on the situation. Feeling poor in Canada is different from living in poverty in Russia or Zimbabwe. The differences between rich and poor within the borders of a country can also be greatly different.

Despite the many definitions, one thing that is certain; poverty is a complex societal issue. No matter how poverty is defined, it can be agreed that it is an issue that requires everyone’s attention. It is important that all members of our society work together to provide the opportunities for all our members to reach their full potential. It helps and shows all of us to help one another.

Hunger and World Poverty

About 21,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every four seconds. Sadly, it is children who die most often.

Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone. The problem is that hungry people are trapped in severe poverty. The lack of money to buy enough food to nourish themselves and loved ones. They become weaker and often sick, when they do not receive the care they need. This makes them increasingly weaker, less able to work, which then makes them even poorer and hungrier. This downward spiral often continues until death for them and their families.

There are effective programs to break this spiral. For adults, there are “food for work” programs where the adults are paid with food to build schools, dig wells, make roads, and so on. This both nourishes them and builds infrastructure to end the poverty. For children, there are “food for education” programs where the children are provided with food when they attend school. Their education will help them to escape from hunger and global poverty.

Global Poverty

6 Billion People in the World have and lose.

1 billion people live in countries where they have what they need for a long quality life.

4 billion live in countries where they have the hope of getting what they need.

1 billion live in countries that have very little at all.

This picture shows the top ten poorest countries in the world.

Being poor in a poor country is different from being poor in a rich country.

A very good example is Norway.

The government in Norway always makes sure that their entire citizen always have some money and food on the table. Their rules includes free schooling, medical-care, food, clean water, and some extra pocket money for people who do not have a lot.

This is something many countries out there need to learn and take with them, the system is very good and it keeps many people from falling into “poverty”. Of course, I am not saying Norway does not have some poor people, but the numbers are very low.

Poor people in poor countries face huge challenges. Even if they work hard. Poor countries are in lack of; Education, Water, Food, Rule of law, Roads, Electricity and most important of all, they are in lack of health care.

According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being weak in life makes these dying multitudes invisible in Death.

Differences between The United States and Chad

United States

2 children born per woman
1 in 4800 women die during pregnancy, childbirth
6 of 1000 babies die
Life expectancy 78
Average age 37
99% of adults can read
82% live in urban areas
3 main languages
Immigrant destination

Chad

• 5 children born per woman

• 1 in of 10 women die during pregnancy, childbirth

• 100 of 1000 babies die

• Life expectancy 47

• Average age 16

• 25% of adults can read

• 27% live in urban areas

• 2 main + 120 languages

• Refugee destination

(https://graspglobalpoverty.wordpress.com/the-5ps-of-global-poverty-why-are-poor-countries-poor-in-the-first-place/)

As you can see the differences between The United states and Chad is big, and it shows clearly. The population in The United states is much larger than Chad’s. For people to survive they probably have to follow some rules and regulations. Some of those who lives in The United States have a lot of opportunity more than in Chad, but there are also many people that are extremely poor, because of unemployment.

Chad on the other hand is a small country with not so many population. And if as that is not enough, the government are far from helping the country to become better. To find a job is probably very hard for someone who lives there. And we all know without food, opportunity or money, is hard to survive.

Finally, below some causes of why poverty still exists today are introduced. Next, it will be explaining more closely how we can try to stop it.

Direct Causes

• Unemployment

• Lack of food

• Lack of facilities

• Illiteracy Historical reason

• Access to Medicine

• Access to Education

• Debts

• Lack of financial, investing and shares trading knowledge

• Overspending

• Money

Primary Causes

• An economic system that excludes children, the elderly, the young, the unemployed

• Corruption

• Labor standards-To attract investment, poor countries enter a race to the bottom to see who can provide lower standards, reduced wages and cheaper resources.

• Lack of Control of Local Resources

• Lack of democracy in a country

• Lack of inclusiveness. Not including everyone in the potential benefits of success in a country

• Insufficient Law and order

• Limited property and personal property rights

• Not allowing businesses to keep most of their profits

Historical Causes

• Colonialism

• Slavery

• War

• Conquest

• History of slave trade

• Colonial history

• How were borders drawn

• When did independence come

• Outsiders meddling during Cold War

• Chance to develop own leaders

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_poverty#Direct_Causes)

Causes of poverty

Poverty has various causes, while some of them can be removed by various measures, eliminating the most complicated underlying causes remains a challenge for both developed and developing nations. Some of the causes of poverty include changing trends in a country’s economy, lack of education, high divorce rate which causes feminization poverty, having a culture of poverty, overpopulation, epidemic diseases such as AIDS and malaria, and environmental problems such as lack of rainfall.

It is hard to separate the causes of poverty from the effects; there is no doubt that poverty is associated with various economic and social ills. For example, overpopulation could be a cause or a side effect of poverty.

Every one of us know the reason for poverty, but most people are still sitting watching, especially when they know they can join and help stop this disaster that has been happening for a very long time now. Corruption has to stop between humans and countries. People will be amazed of what they can do if they work together as a team to stop poverty. Actually what I’m trying to say is that people have to stop being selfish, if you know you have more than you need, try to help others. It is the only way to overcome poverty.

This picture shows the percentage population living on less than 1 dollar a day in the world