Poverty: Causes of a Global Phenomenon

As poverty continued to spread throughout the United States, an explanation for poverty was to be expected. Generally, poverty is the lack of resources to supply basic needs. However, there are various competing ways to determine the reason for poverty. One view is individual-focused explanations which targets the personal responsibility of the individual in determined their place in a poverty-stricken life. While the opposite view is a structure-focused explanation that primarily blames the society’s structure.

What is poverty? Poverty is the lack of the necessities to live, such as nutrient, clean water, education, healthcare, clothing, and shelter. People all over the world are unable to afford these basic needs. Poverty has been a problem all throughout history. There will always be people who are hungry and homeless. It doesn’t matter what the prosperity level, or median income is. Starting a campaign to plan to end world poverty through volunteer work is a start to ending this crisis. Poverty isn’t going to be solved in a day, a week, or even a year. It’s going to take some time to end this world problem. People take for granted what they have. With poverty comes diseases and hunger. Poverty is responsible for many world problems and people all over the world can help end these issues.

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

Child poverty in America is often overlooked because compared to other nations and the majority of the population it is minimal; still, this epidemic affects over 14.5 million United States children and families. Martin Luther King Jr. once said “America is going to hell if we don’t use her vast resources to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life” and at the rate America is going, poverty becomes a bigger issue each day. Impoverishment includes risks of health, family instability, lack of employment, lack of education and lack of proper nutrition; poverty maters, and the shortage of worth given to this issue is enthralling. In the 2014 census, more than 15.5 million children in America were considered poor, with more than two thirds in working families with low income. Compelling data of the ample costs of poverty among children to our country 's economic well-being and shows that policies to reduce the poverty rate among children must be a central part of efforts to build a fit bargain for the 21st century. Although the cost is too high to make all families happy, children should be the most essential given that they are the future of our great nation. Policies such as: Ending Child Poverty Now and the children’s Defense Fund, are being implemented to formulate a better future and put an end, if not reduce, the effects this outbreak. Each year half of the poor population costs the nation trillions of dollars just

Statistics shows that almost half of the world that’s over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day and at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day but more than 80 percent of the world's population lives in countries where income differentials are widening. Currently, the poorest 40% of world’s population hold 5% of the global income and the richest 20% holds three quarter of world’s income. Economic inequality which is the gap between poor and rich contains of disparities in the distribution of wealth and

Obviously there are countless causes of global poverty. Human greed alone can be blamed for much of what goes wrong in the world today. However, if there are improvements in governance, aid, immigration, and trade there is potential to significantly diminish that 1.3 billion people who currently living on less than $1.25 a

Poverty touches many lives in both the United States and all over the world. People associate poverty with shortages or pauperism. Some individuals ignore the fact that poverty is a major problem in the world. While there are many causes and effects of poverty, such as ethnicity and crime, there are three important causes and effects that impact individuals and their families every day. Three important causes of poverty include lack of education, drug addiction, and standards of living while three effects of poverty include death, minimum wage jobs to no jobs, and imprisonment.

Poverty is one of the world’s worst epidemics, if not the worst. It effects families on every continent and kills more and more people each year. The poor living conditions and harmful diseases cause children at a very young age to become violently sick. The crippling accidents from unsafe working conditions put families on the street millions at a time. While the wealthy are living large, practically bathing in billions of dollars, more than a billion people struggle to live off less than one dollar per day. The reality of poverty is that nearly half of the earth’s population is living under the poverty line.

The social problem is poverty, a risk factor that predisposes disadvantaged groups to incarceration. Data shows that the incarcerated majority are minority groups like African Americans and Latinos. In today’s society, one can argue that both the state and people tend to place the blame solely on the individual. The poor are often stigmatized, associating them with an undesirable stereotype that reduces their value as an individual. Furthermore, people tend to think that those in poverty engage in unlawful activities more often than the White population. As a result, African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be associated with crime and are more likely to be subjected to policing than the White population. There is a racial bias

The foremost cause of global poverty is colonialism. After Christopher Columbus “discovered’’ the new world in 1492, Europeans invaded the Americas, Africa, and East Asia. Today, these places are some of the most affected by poverty. The poverty persists because the peoples of these places were killed and enslaved. Their land, natural resources, and way of life were stolen by the colonizers. The colonizers forced the colonies to shift from subsistence farming to cash crops, obliterating the natural economy. Since they only grew cash crops, they were forced to buy European goods. The economy of the colonies became locked and they became completely dependent on the colonizing country. Soon, the colonies found themselves in debt to their colonizers. What little money these colonies were able to make went to repay the debt, instead of going toward the development of the colony. Additionally, since they were indebted to them, their colonizers had control over their economy. The creditors took full advantage of this and forced the colonies to adopt neoliberalism and privatize companies and resources, which plunged even more people into absolute poverty. Even when many of these colonies became their own independent countries, the documentary mentioned that the debt was transferred over to the new country, even though this was a violation of international law. This same system continues to this day and everyday more and more people find themselves in poverty.

“The reasons poverty rates remain high despite the [economic] recovery has to do with wage decline and failure of the “safety net” i.e, the government systems of taxes and transfers designed

There are three main arguments believed to be the explanations for the existence and persistence of poverty. The first account is the Dependency-Based Explanation that puts the blame of poverty to the individual or to their cultural background. The Exclusion-Based Explanation and Structural-Based Explanation are the next two which establishes the society that condemns people to poverty.

In one article, it is stated that nobody in the "developed world" even comes close to the "poverty level," with a poverty line of $63 a day for a "family of 4 (The Economist, 2013)." Some contributing factors to the extreme levels of poverty can be attributed to not only a lack of education, but health care, clothes, food and shelter (The Economist, 2013). Developed countries tend to take these simple necessities for granted, as well as tending to forget or ignore the needs of developing countries (The Economist, 2013). While the measures the world has gone to in order to reduce poverty is impressive,

Every city has poverty. Travel around the world, I bet it wouldn’t be difficult to find a city that doesn 't have an impoverished community. Poverty is a global issue, but most importantly it’s a local issue to me in the city that I live in. Among the 10 largest cities in America, Chicago has the third highest poverty rate with 40-60% of our residents living under the poverty level. People who live in poverty are given less opportunities, resources and tools than people who live in the middle or upper class. Poverty is not a pleasant subject, however, poverty is real. In the daily lives of the poor, poverty becomes a network of disadvantages. The end result is that there is a lack of access to education, employment, health care, affordable housing, proper sanitation and good nutrition among many generations of the poor (End Poverty). Of the issues associated with poverty, the lack of access to an education stands out to me the most. In Chicago, education is greatly valued and is vital for all development and growth achievements in people. Education is the process in which people gain knowledge, help form and shape attitudes and opinions, and allow people to gain a set of skills that they can further use in areas outside of a school environment. However, education systems in Chicago are taking a huge deficit due to the effects of poverty. The effects of poverty are already big factors toward the concern about Chicago, and why it is portrayed as negatively as it is, but those