Factors of Poverty in Namibia

African nations easily fall at the bottom of any list that involve economic measures. In fact, “34 of the 50 nations on the UN list of least developed countries are in Africa” (“UN List of Least Developed Countries”) and “40% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa live in absolute poverty” and this is definitely a problem (“Poverty”). Poverty is known as the state of being extremely poor. The causes of Africa’s poverty ranges from “political instability, national debt, discrimination and social inequality, vulnerability to natural disasters, and overpopulation” (“What Are the Causes of Poverty?”). However, these are just a few examples. There are many other economical disasters that are currently happening in Africa. Poverty is a conflict that can easily relate to any other problem, which is why it should be considered the biggest problem in Africa. Moreover, if poverty is reduced, it would solve a number of Africa’s other complications. Poverty has many affects on Africans such as reducing their education, unfortunately gives residents mental and physical issues and diseases, and extra social spending from adults.

Poverty is “the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor” (Dictionary.com, 2017). Based off this definition poverty is a condition that can cause a cascade of cause and effect actions that is detrimental to families and individuals both physically and mentally. Haan, Kaplan, & Camacho (2017) completed a study on the correlation between social and economic status and health in adults in Oakland, CA. They found that the lower the socioeconomic class the higher incidents of diseases and deaths related to chronic diseases (p.1161-1162). Just being without money or little money was not the only indication of health indication, a person living in an area with higher poverty issues

Poverty was originally inevitable as a result of world affairs, such as slavery, wars and battles for independence. After world affairs has settled, majority of countries recovered from their despair and hardship. Today, the worldwide rate of poverty has dropped dramatically except in sub-Saharan Africa. Jeffery D. Sachs has spent 25 years working in indigent countries of Africa in effort to understand the cause of their endeavors with extreme poverty. Sachs, then, provided an analysis of why extreme poverty exists in Africa and how well developed countries can contribute toward eradicating the complication.

The living conditions in poverty areas have been like this since old times. Scholarly reviewed, Family Economics & Nutrition Review of 1997 shows us the clear distinction between the families and deprivations which were counted as-

Poverty is a very big issue in Africa, North of South America and Asia. This is because these countries in these continents are less economically developed (LEDC). Due to this the people are more vulnerable to catching diseases and dying. Africa has the highest amount of poverty leading to 91% of death to be cause by malaria. The reason for these deaths is because the government is finding it difficult to come up with the money to buy the correct medicine. Countries around the Sub Saharan region spend 40% of its health budget on Malaria. The area of that has the highest amount of death due to malaria and poverty is the Middle East with 38,000 annually, closely followed by Asia with 36,000.

One of the things that I am most proud of is the fact that I overcame poverty in a third world country and I am now living in the U.S., going to college as an honors student with a 4.00 GPA, leading the Honors Club for the current academic year, and leading my own community project.

Before I started my work on this topic, I was already aware that poverty is a tremendous issue in Africa through my research in reading articles online. What I didn’t know was that the scale of poverty was so tremendous and that it’s very widespread in the continent. But in my paper, I will be focusing primarily on Sub-Saharan Africa. Before I started this research, I didn’t have much focus on this issue, but after learning this, I became more interested in it.

Poverty is the result of the uneven distribution of resources and wealth within the community. People in poverty experience inadequate education, a scarce food supply, lack of proper clothing, and proper shelter. Poverty exists when a household does not obtain the necessary means to meet the minimum quality of life considered normal for the community in which they live. The effect of poverty has the ability to define an entire community. Poverty is generally measured by two alternatives. Those alternatives are Absolute Poverty and Relative Poverty. Lives are being shaped on a daily basis. This is a major problem which must be examined in a close scope. This serious problem has the ability to leave long lasting mental, health, and social issues

Around the world more than 2.5 billion men, women, and children live in grinding poverty on less than $2- a-day (“Resources, hunger”). This is just one of the many alarming statistics I have found while conducting research on this topic. Children everywhere, especially in rural areas are going through extremely rough times. Regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are among some of the hardest hit population (“Resources, hunger”). Young children, especially girls, are some of the most susceptible because hunger and malnutrition affect their physical and mental development severely (“Resources, hunger”). Men, women, and children around the world are living in poverty; it results in lower literacy rates, chronic hunger, and diseases

Besides the differences in shantytown and jobs availabilities in Togo and in the United States, the poverty in the household is another critical point which has an impact on family’s life. In my country, some families struggle to afford their children school fees due to the lowest of their income. There is a lot of illiterates in my country because the private and the public school are not free. In the United States, at least the public school is free all way to high school, and everyone who wants can be educated. In another hand, the United States poverty caused divorce in families because of the lack of money that can help to buy what

In this essay, we are also discussed about classical theory in which we look forward to economy perspective by Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Keynes ideas regarding the consequences of poverty that bring to underdevelopment in Africa. The issues of poverty in Sub-Saharan African always become debate in the world because Africa always exploited by rich country likes European countries. The people in South Africa living under poverty if we look based on the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation stated there 239 million of people in Sub-Saharan Africa were lack of food to eat and malnutrition in 2010 approximately .The numbers of hungry Africans are living under poverty are larger than the population in Asia. The malnourished people in Sub-Saharan

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).

Figure 4 above shows that youth unemployment has been high in Namibia since 1991 that records the level of youth unemployment rate of 35.2% from 19% of total unemployment. Youth unemployment rate reported all time low in 1994 with 32% from 19.4% of total unemployment and all time high in 2008 with total youth unemployment rate of 59.9% from 37.6% of total unemployment the cause of this high rate in 2008 was caused by the global economic crises and the closing down of mining operations and some manufacturing industry in the country. The fast growing of total youth population in Namibia is due the improvement of health conditions, slow down of mortality rate and fertility rate.

Poverty is a remarkably persistent problematic social challenge within the United States that has far-reaching implications. The magnitude and perplexity of poverty and its instigates are a massive predicament of both ethical and economic concern that has many proportions, which demands the country’s immediate attention.

In this book, it is found that the author manage to give detail explanations on each factors that is believed to cause poverty. The author makes progress and develops the ideas convincingly by providing adequate information based on statistical data and empirical evidences. In chapter four, the author argues that level of education affects the potential earnings of household. Indeed he writes, “The access to education expands the potential for human capital thereby enabling one to qualify for better-paid jobs” (29). To support his argument, the author proves it based on the results of the survey in which it is presented in table 4.1 that show the distribution of household heads based on the level of general education.