Poverty And Inequality In Ethiopia

Poverty has increased tremendously over the last decade in many countries, developed or less developed. Poverty can be caused by many different factors,

Poverty is an issue that has affected society since civilization was first created. Even with a globalized economy and economic opportunity prevalent nearly everywhere, there is still a vast majority of people who live in financial strain. According to recent information obtained by the World Bank, “10.7% of the world’s population live on less than US $1.90 a day”(World Bank 2013). In the United States considered the wealthiest nation on Earth, the poverty rate is 12.7% which is 40.6 million people(US Census Bureau 2016). Though some people are in poverty because of their own choices, poverty is a result of structural institutional practices in place.

For practically every family, then, the ingredients of poverty are part financial and part psychological, part personal and part societal, part past and part present. Every problem magnifies the impact of others, and all are so tightly interlocked that one reversal can produce a chain reaction with results far distant from the original cause. A run-down apartment can exacerbate a child's asthma, which leads to a call for an ambulance, which generates a medical bill that cannot be paid, which ruins a credit record, which hikes the interest rate on an auto loan, which forces the purchase of an unreliable used car, which jeopardizes a mother's punctuality at work, which limits her promotions and earning capacity, which confines her to poor housing.

“What is poverty? 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 the 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 freedom” (The World Bank, 2009).

Poverty has been present since the beginning of time. In society, a majority of individuals were once equal to each other, due to reliance on the environment. For instance, the hunter-gather lifestyle had either a hunter or gatherer where one would hunt wild animals for the essentials, while another individual would gather the necessities. However, life was not secure due to the chance of sudden climate change and reduction of prey being present. This resulted in an inadequate “build from response” rate, leading to the scarcity of the necessary essentials needed to survive. 1 Similar to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was the farming era, where most civilians were living in poverty and relied on

In his book, "Promises not kept" Isbister explains to us that most of the people living in poverty stricken Asia, South America, and Africa are plagued by disease, danger and uncertainty. Isbister asks us the question of why social change in the third world has come to a halt and how come there is massive and swelling poverty that continues to plague almost all of the developing countries. Social scientists have developed different approaches to help understand why there is poverty in the third world and also to help seek out the answers to why poverty keeps on persisting.

Unfortunately, poverty is a complex phenomenon. It occurs on a structural level, as seen when discussing poverty rates, and on a personal level. In order to help individuals living in poverty, professionals must move beyond any myths and biases they may hold. Poverty cannot be fully grasped without an appreciation of the social environment in which poverty exists (Seccombe, 2011).

Imagine a small village in Africa. What images come to mind? Is it small huts in a desolate village? Or how about exotic animals? The truth is that although some of these descriptions are accurate, they tend to leave out the pain and suffering of people. Every day 21,000 children die throughout different parts of the world (Shah). These deaths are the result of poverty as well as the conditions that come with it. Being in poverty is so much more than just not having money. Hunger, lack of resources, and wars plague developing countries, all of which have to do with poverty.

This paper will discuss poverty, the different types of poverty and their definitions and who is affected by each type of poverty. It will look at the some of the major reasons why poverty exists and what causes poverty, like such things as inequality, stratification and international debt. Some of the impacts of poverty will also be analyzed from a national and global perspective; things like education, literacy rate, and crime. This paper will demonstrate that poverty affects almost everyone in some form or another and exists because those with power and wealth want and need poverty to exist to force a dependence on the wealthy. A few of the main

First off, One cause for poverty is the Rich. The rich bring inequality to the poor. The wealth difference between upper-class and lower-class is at its widest point. “In most nations today, inequality the gap between the rich and the poor is quite high and often widening” (”Cause of”). Shows that while the rich are seeing their wealth grow, the middle and lower-classes are seeing financial decline. The distribution of wealth and income reveals inequalities among countries. “Inequality in the distribution of money income causes poverty” (Davis 23). The distribution of wealth compares all the assets held by the richest and poorest members of society. Tanzania is the largest of the East African countries and one of the poorest countries in the world. “During the twentieth century, the gap between the income of the richest and the poorest countries grew substantially, for example, in 2006, the average U.S. citizen was

1 in every 3 people in the world live in poverty every day (OXFAM). This number seems to be rapidly increasing as the years go on. But in order to put a stop to this problem we need to first be aware of the causes so that we can find the solutions. Many people in the United States believe that poverty is a self-imposed problem, meaning that it comes from personal influences more than outside factors (Eitzen, 194). If this were true, which it is not, putting an end to poverty would be a lot simpler. Most people are only poor short term.

Poverty is a social problem that affects everyone on an economic, political and social level. The problem of human suffering is one that we must combat strategically on many levels. According to the United Nations, “in 2015 more than one billion people around the world live in a state of poverty, lacking the basic goods food, clothing, and shelter that humans need to survive” (“Poverty”). There are a great number of areas that keep individuals poor, such as lack of resources, inadequate income, lack of education, language barriers and the high cost of child care. Being able to work and provide basic necessities is our basic human right and we should not be deprived of these basic human rights that individuals need in order to live satisfying lives. The government has the responsibility of helping individuals in need with the economic assistance to feed, clothe, house, educate, provide health care and decent wages for every individual. They should ensure that individuals have access to resources that will help them build a better future. There are several ways that we can work together to strategically find solutions to end inequality among the poor individuals in our society.

From these objectives, it is clear that the Ethiopian government is committed to grow their economy as well as to eradicate poverty. More specifically, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development and the Ethiopian government decided that 70% of the government budget goes to pro- poor sectors which includes education, health, water and roads. Also, after GTP I was implemented, the Ethiopian government has prioritized a few industries to lead its industrialization agenda, which are Agriculture, Industry and service. Those three sectors that the Ethiopian government prioritized through GTP I resulted in Ethiopia’s strong and rapid economic growth in past decades. Since the Ethiopian government rolled out GTP I in 2010, the Ethiopian

My desire to see the prosperity of sub-Saharan Africa, has always propelled me to speculate how a continent abundant of natural resources, is the poorest inhabited continent in the world. The Millennium Development Goals, further stimulated my interest in international development as I began to ensue this progress during my undergraduate studies. Having made numerous visits to Ethiopia 's capital Addis Ababa, or the "African Tiger", I have witnessed deep socio-economic issues despite the increasing GDP (gross domestic product) due to the economic regeneration. Studying my Bachelors Politics degree, introduced me to inter-governmental institutions and government functions, which has supplied me with a solid background to infiltrate my study of international development. Throughout the course of my undergraduate studies, I discovered the Global Politics and Solidarity, Cosmopolitanism and Global Justice modules to be the most enlightening, heavily focusing on development issues such as poverty and climate change. For this purpose, my undergraduate research topic focused on Global Poverty and the Dependency Model. During this research, I sourced documents relating to dependency theorist, Andre Gunder Frank who argues that the developed states perpetuate the conditions of underdevelopment to promote their own development.

Poverty is a major menace to humanity existence in recent times majorly in the third world countries; it is one of the greatest threats to stability and peace more than other tussles like terrorism. The Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations to eradicate poverty everywhere in all its form and ensure quality education by 2030 shows the global commitment to ensure a higher standard of living for mankind.