Poverty
Today, there are 1 billion children all around the world living in poverty. In that, there are nearly 22, 000 children who are dying each day due to poverty. Global poverty has decreased by half over the last decade, but 71 percent of the population is still living on low income or poor conditions(Helpers Social Development). Today, poverty has become one of the main goals that the SDG are trying to help and improve. “End poverty in all its forms everywhere”(The Global goals). The SDG community has set up many goals that they are aiming to accomplish by 2030, some of the goals are reducing poverty by at least 50%, eradicating extreme poverty, and more. Since poverty has been a very serious problem, there are a few ways we can prevent people from encountering poverty.
Types of Poverty
Based on”The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica”, they introduce the definition of poverty, and the different types of it. Poverty is “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.” Different types of poverty can be different depending on different factors.
Cyclical poverty. This is poverty may be widespread throughout a population, but the occurrence of it is limited. This is cause usually by the fluctuation in the business cycle and the mass unemployment during periods of depression or serious recession.
Collective poverty. This is poverty that involves a relatively permanent insufficiency of means to secure basic needs for people. This happens mostly in parts of Asia, the Middle East most of Africa, some parts of South and central America.
Concentrated collective poverty. People who suffer from this mostly live in city ghettos, regional by passes or industry that cannot compete profitably. These people have higher mortality rates, poorer health, lower educational levels, and more problems.
Case poverty. In the article “Poverty”, by the editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, it states that “case poverty refers to the inability of an individual or family to secure basic needs even in social surroundings of general prosperity.” (10). This kind of inability are mostly related to the lack of things that may allow the person to maintain themselves. These people may have disabilities like being blind, physically, or emotionally disabled, or ill.
Problems and Causes of Poverty
Since there are different types of poverty, there are many problems people with poverty are struggling with, and these problems can be caused by many things. Economic and social factors are both factors that can lead to poverty. “Poverty” by World Book Students give specific definitions towards these two factors.
Economic factors are affecting poverty by the availability of jobs. When the economy is countries or cities become weak, the business might fire many workers since they aren’t able to provide enough money to pay a lot of workers as salary. This will then lead to a rise in unemployment and poverty as well. As time passes and as technology has become more advanced, many workers’ jobs are now replaced by machines and robots, which means that there are less jobs people can do to earn money.
Social factors include the quality of education. People in rural areas usually attend lower quality schools, which would lead them to the lack of education. Since they are not educated as much, their skills may not be qualified for certain jobs. If people are unable to get a good job and earn money, it would then lead to poverty. Economic and social factors can both make it difficult for people to earn a study income and meet their basic needs. After a long time, this will gradually cause poverty for these people.
For people who are struggling with poverty, they encounter problems like lack of many things, for example being less likely to receive medical care, eat healthy food that can help them stay healthy, and more. According to Mr. Zhao, who grew up in a poor rural area explains how poverty was for them while growing up. In the past, medical issues were a major problem. Back then, there wasn’t any health insurance, which means that the people had to pay out of their own pockets if they needed to go see a doctor. If families were poor and did not have money, they weren’t able to receive medical care and will then cause them to being uncapable of working, which would then lead to poverty. Doubt that people did have money and chose to receive medical care, since medical care was exceedingly rare, the medical expenses would be costly. This means that after they obtain medical care, they will become poor and still encounter poverty.
From the above, we can comprehend that poverty is a problem that is strenuous to avoid and there are many problems people come across and struggle with. With all these problems, not only will they have a hard time living their lives, but it can also cause more people to die at a younger age and make the world population decrease.
Local Solutions
Nigeria and Congo are two of the countries that suffer from the most significant challenges. Together, there are 150 million people in these two countries, and they can represent more than one quarter of the total poverty in Africa today. The number of Nigeria’s poor people is estimated to be keep on increasing by about 20 million due to the rapid population growth. With Africa already in an unpleasant condition, the Covid-19 pandemic caused even more trouble for these people. The Covid-19 outbreak pushed almost 50 million more Africans into extreme poverty. According to the Helpers Social Development Foundation, the African Development Bank mentions that before the pandemic, they estimate that the number of people living in extreme poverty reached 425.2 million in a year. However, because of the appearance of Covid-19, the number increased to between 453.4-462.7 million, increasing up to 37.5 million.
To help with this problem, many solutions have been made. One example of a solution is the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This act attempts to increase “Africa’s accessibility to the U.S. market with duty-free access to many U.S. commodities, incentivizing investments in the goods of U.S. companies.” The countries that the AGOA work with must need to work towards improving rules towards law, human rights, and labor standards. With the help from AGOA, Kenya has now generated about $20 million in exports from footwear. In South Africa, they have earnt a total of $2.9 billion in 2015, and created 85,000 new jobs for the citizens. If the AGOA can gradually help the whole Africa, this can solve the problem of poverty. Since the government are earning more money, it provides them more money for the citizens and create more jobs. If more jobs are created, people who are struggling from poverty can find a job and earn money to support themselves and their families.
In addition, goals and targets have also been made to help with poverty. The African Union’s Agenda 2063 have been made aiming to decrease poverty in Africa. They are first aiming to reduce Africa’s extreme poverty rate to below 20% by 2030, then below 10% by 2045, and to below 3% by 2063.
Global Solutions
While the African Growth and Opportunity Act brought a huge influence and change to Africa, there are many solutions that are made to help poverty globally. Even though the causes and conditions of poverty can vary greatly from one country to another, but there are still some solutions that can help most countries.
Improving job opportunities. “Minimum wage laws establish the lowest hourly wage employers can legally pay.” Says the article “Poverty” from World Book Student. This kind of law pursues that workers can receive enough income for their daily needs. By improving job opportunities, more jobs are provided for the citizens with higher salaries, which allows more people to have job and earn money to support themselves.
Creating educational programs. These programs can provide people in poverty the opportunity to receive knowledge and skills they need to support themselves. Many people end of in poverty because of their knowledge and education. Because they don’t know much, they wouldn’t have a chance to find a job to support themselves. Programs can be offered to low-income families around the world that can provide benefits like medical, educational, and social benefits for the people. Activities and things like scholarship, financial support, work study programs, bilingual educational programs are all things that can help improve education of the people in poverty.
While all kinds of programs, foundations, governments all around the world are figuring out different ways to help with poverty, what can we do to help simply as a student? Even though we don’t have the power to help and participate in programs and foundations to help, but we can help even just by donating and staying informed. If everyone of us are willing to donate even just 1RMB or $1, it will help greatly to the people in countries like Africa who are struggling with poverty. If people are willing to donate old clothing that they don’t use, it provides people in poverty a new piece of clothing to wear. By donating and supporting, we can all be a part and make a difference to the world. Even just stepping out one small step, can mean a lot for the people who are in need.
Works Cited
Allard, Scott W. “Poverty.” World Book Student, World Book, 2022,
www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar442680. Accessed 1 June 2022.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “poverty”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Dec. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/poverty. Accessed 31 May 2022.
https://borgenproject.org/fight-poverty-in-africa/
https://unctad.org/press-material/facts-and-figures-7
https://www.helpersfoundation.org/poverty-in-africa/
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/f274a12ff8214b07a5d1aa800c7e5f42
For the intro, where you talked about the number of people who are suffering from poverty, I think you will need to cite a source for that. I think it was fascinating where you connected poverty and quality education. You definitely need a heading that says something like,”Solutions for poverty in rural areas.”