Disadvantages Of Poverty

Poverty affects over 767 million people in the entire world. In the United States alone, poverty affects more than 42 million people. According to feedingamerica.org, of that 42 million affected, 13 million children and over 5 million seniors live in poverty. Poverty is grouped into two different categories; absolute and relative. Wikipedia.org defines absolute poverty as the absence of enough resources to secure basic life necessities. This includes not having safe drinking water, not having clean bathroom facilities, not being able to get proper healthcare, not having access to education and not having proper shelter. Absolute poverty is also referred to as living in extreme poverty. Relative poverty, according to wikipedia.org, is the condition in which people lack the minimum amount of income needed in order to maintain the average standard of living in the society in which they live. The meaning of poverty varies from country to country and person to person. For example, while some people in the United States would be considered as living below the poverty line, a person from another country may consider that person rich. However, poverty is simply when an individual is unable to meet their basic needs. This includes not being able to clothed, house or feed oneself or one’s family. Poverty is a problem that will not be easily solved. There have been many attempts to try and end poverty, but yet it continues to grow. In a country such as the United States that’s

Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However poverty is more than not just having money. In addition to a lack of money, poverty is about not being able to participate in recreational activities; Not being able to send children on a day trip with classmates or to a birthday party, and not being able to pay for medications in times of illness. The poorest people will also have less access to health, education and other vital services. Problems of hunger, malnutrition and disease afflict the poorest in society. The poorest are also typically marginalized from society and have little representation or voice in public and political debates, making it even harder to escape poverty. Poverty is a direct threat to society and equal rights in America.

The thesis, The Water Crisis in Third World Countries, By Monterey Starkey from the Honors program at Liberty University describes the difficulty of obtaining adequate drinking water and presents solutions to this issue. Starkey begins by noting the importance water has on the human body. Additionally, Starkey explains, fresh water is becoming scarce which makes water transportation difficult to needy areas. Aquifers and rainwater are possible solutions to water transportation (Starkey 9). The cost of water in poverty-stricken are much higher than those in rich areas (Starkey 10). The article also implies water shortages affect community growth (15). Starkey believes filtering, boiling, chlorinating, educating, harvesting, roof catching and

In a community with plentiful opportunities for commerce how can poverty be an issue? Poverty can be a reason children go hungry. Poverty can be a reason for senior citizens going without needed medications. With poverty comes many issues. Poverty has become a drain to every population, ethnicity, and culture in the world today. Being poor and being in a state of poverty are often used interchangeably, but are not the same thing. Poor can be situational. One can be too poor to afford the materialistic things wanted while maintaining the possession of the things needed. Poor can be the feeling one has two days before payday. On the other hand poverty is the inability to consistently maintain bare necessities. Poverty is having a job but not being unable to afford food, shelter, and clothing. Poverty can mean being homeless and exposed to living in shelters or cars for prolonged periods of time. According to the census bureau more than 45 million people, or 14.5 percent of all Americans lived below the poverty level last year. Dick Gregory’s “shame” and Wallace Stegner’s “The Dump Ground” are similar stories of poverty shown through perception, childhood experiences, and socioeconomic status.

According to Unicef, “Two out of every ten children do not make it to their fifth birthday due to a water related illness.” This crisis is preventable and 39% of Western and Central African people should not be living like this. Life is difficult for the people that do not have clean water. ¨Women and children walk up to three hours a day to get water,¨(Unicef). “Women spend more time collecting water than anything else,” stated by Water Changes Everything. “Women and children also carry up to 40 pounds of water every trip they make to get water,” states Water and Sanitation. The information is important because they do not have a good chance to get a job or education and therefore they live in poverty with no chance of having a productive life outside of their village. There are many global problems about this crisis. “The woman and children collecting the water do not get an education because they spend all day getting the water” (Water Changes Everything). “They still do not have proper sanitation water to drink or clean water,” states the The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “On an average year 1.5 million children die a year due to a water related disease,” states Water and Sanitation. This problem is solvable, and we can not allow 1.5 million children to die a year and not get an education. Research must continue in order to solve this

Water is one of the most important sources of energy that keep humans from being dehydrated, not only that; it is an abundant resource that supports many life forms on Earth. With only one access to fresh drinking water, metropolitans from the Victorian period involuntarily have to use the water from the Thames River which also the place where their excrements were being released. From this point of view, we can be assured that water is the most important source that humans are in need. Water treatment plants were created to ensure that waters from different sources are safe to consume. Though technologies are invented to prevent future epidemic outbreaks, water supply is still a problem in many developing countries. More than 5,000 children die each year in Africa from consuming contaminated or dehydrated from the lack water. Without access to fresh water supplies, government officials have no choice but to receive aid from friendly countries. Up until today, a countless number of children are suffering from the lacking of

Currently, well over forty-five million people in the US are considered impoverished (Gongloff, Mark. “45 Million Americans Still Stuck Below Poverty Line: Census.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16 Sept. 2014, 10:23 am), and—though that number is slowly dropping— this is still one of the pivotal issues politicians rarely is ever mention. Most assume this is due to people being “lazy”, and simply “not willing” to work hard enough to earn a livable wage despite the fact that many of them work twelve to sixteen hours a day. Many then find themselves wondering why this is the case, and while the answer is heartbreaking, it’s not nearly far-fetched enough to warrant surprise. In fact, it’s rather well-known that most people who fall below the poverty line are either people of colour, women, people in the LGBT community, the elderly, disabled, or non-Christian: all minority groups. The matter of helping them (or even if we should in the first place) along with who is responsible is a hotly debated issue. It’s even worse when the fact that those who need help in the first place rarely if ever get a say, as they are almost entirely handled by those who have little-to-no experience with such matters.

The logic of poor peoples purchases as they attempt to meet a wealth image they cannot obtain is obscene. It is impossible to provide for their families and live a rich lifestyle under little earnings. Stated by Isabel Sawhill, “None of this means that providing lower-income families with more money is necessarily a bad thing” (Sawhill). The political system works in a matter to benefit poor families with money they do not earn. Poor individuals complain about being poor while it is quite simple to overcome poverty and rely on a career. Pursuing a career and presenting a humble attitude can help with overcoming poverty and presenting a better reputation. Poor individuals need to visualize more than spending money on unnecessary items, work to flip their money without relying on the government, and be themselves not a false image.

Providing essential services is a huge task, not only because of the apartheid backlog but also the rapidly growing population. Struggling to deliver, government seeks to hand over the responsibility through various forms of denationalization. But privatizing common natural resources such as water and energy has proven to be to the disadvantage of the poor. Around the world, denationalization has pushed up costs of services, despite promises that it won’t. Telkom saw increases in the price of local phone calls, while international calls became cheaper, to the advantage of wealthier customers (Hoogeveen, J. and B. Ozler, 2006).

The negative effects of poverty have consistently led to disastrous outcomes for those who attend school in an effort to acquire a better education. These effects might be caused by the home life and financial instability. It could also be an effect on the school, which has suffered from financial instability. This can lead to an inability to give students the proper time and education that they deserve. Multiple groups are involved in efforts to assist children in poverty by having better school lives or healthier family lives in general. However, government funding can only do so much and in many cases, it is far from enough to help families living in poverty. Children from low-income families face increased risk factors throughout

Poverty can lead to serious effects. Children who grow up in poverty are likely to have frequent health problems than the children who grow in better financial circumstances. For example, infants who are born into poverty have a low birth weight, and they grow up with mental or physical disabilities. Not only are they sick, but they are most likely to die before their first birthday. Children who are raised in poverty might miss school often because of their illnesses, and they have a much higher accident rate than the other children. Nearly a billion of the world’s population can’t read nor write. Poor families experience stress much more than a normal family does. They are more likely to be exposed to negative events such as illness, job loss, death of a family member, and depression. Homelessness is another effect of poverty. Homeless children are less likely to receive proper nutrition, protection and they experience more health problems. Around 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe and clean water and proper nutrition. Homeless women experience a high rate of low birth weight infants as well as miscarriages. Families who do not have homes receive much more stress than other families. They also have disruption in school, work, friendships, and family relationships. There are other effects of poverty such as drug abuse and addiction, child and woman abuse, debts pressure, and increase in crimes.

Life on the earth is largely shaped by the availability and access to clean and safe water. Indeed, water is an essential component in the industrial, agricultural, transport, among other economic and social sectors. However, a research done by UNICEF(2012) states that “Over 780 million people are still without access to improved sources of drinking water and 2.5 billion lack improved sanitation.“ The majority of this population is residing in the arid areas, which account for a third of the total global mass. Water scarcity and salinity are major hindrances to the social and economic development in these areas. Notably, the demand for clean water

A few Fridays ago in the west end of downtown, Davenport I was walking into my friend’s house with her son Bentley. The first thing we always do is talk about his school day. He got very excited and threw a big, brown sack at me. I slowly opened it up and realized it was a heavily-packed lunch bag. Bentley went on to explain that his school sends food home with all the children on the weekends, because most of them cannot afford much to eat, especially on the weekends. I had never seen a school that went out of its way to help children that are in such desperate need. I wish all school districts went above and beyond like Bentley’s does; however that is not always the case. Across the United States, elementary school employees/officials need to be more actively aware of the impact poverty has on young children’s academics.

Water is a bare necessity both for the survival of an individual and a nation. Freshwater scarcity has become a global concern as the projected worldwide demand on water exceeds supplies. Less developed countries in particular are currently suffering from severe water shortages and water contamination. "…half the population of our "civilized" world suffers today with water services inferior to those of the ancient Greeks and Romans…In many developing countries, cholera, dysentery, and other water related diseases are on the upswing." (Gleick,1999) Kenya, Africa is one such case. Kenya's population is approximately 105,000, with a high infant mortality rate and an average life expectancy of 58. Average water conditions

What is poverty? Is it material deprivation or social exclusion? It can be both. Poverty is defined as a state of having very little or no money, goods, or means of support. Having a poverty line can be difficult because standards of living change, and so do people’s perception of what poverty means. It is also difficult to measure poverty because what it takes to get along or make ends meet can be different in many communities and can also reflect individual opinions as much as actual needs (Iceland 2006).