Global Poverty

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Recommended: The benefits of foreign aid

Poverty has become a crucial fact worldwide and has a great influence on economic development. Foreign aid from wealthy regions has been dedicated to reducing poverty. Before delving into the argument, it is necessary to clarify the term “western countries” and “global poverty”. Western countries refer to the most developed countries which have in common a high standard of living for most of the residents, such as the United States, most European countries and Australia. Global poverty in this essay can be defined as having no or very limited access to fresh water, medical facilities, and education (Sumner, 2011, internet). This essay will argue that western countries have not been working hard in assisting poor nations develop in a comprehensive manner. Firstly, much of the food and resources in developed countries is squandered, while others do not get enough food to meet their energy needs. It can be seen that western countries do not even the distribution of food. Furthermore, a lack of educational aid causes a large gap between these less developed countries and western countries. A high illiteracy rate also results in serious global poverty issues in the long-term. Finally, economic aid is insufficiently provided to poor nations. Simultaneously, trade liberalization which increases at a dramatic rate also leads to the degradation of the ecosystem and therefore global poverty.

Concerning poverty, firstly, food poverty is confronted by most poor nations and it can be defined as the inability to obtain healthy and affordable food. Unfortunately, western countries do not give efficient aid to help fight this problem. An example can be seen in Ethiop, according to the United Nations report, in 2008 nearly half Ethiop’s popul...

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...lobalissues.org/article/35/foreign-aid-development-assistance (accessed: 4th April,2011)

Stiglitz, J. (2002) Globalization and its discontents W.W.Norton and Company: United States

Sumner, A. (2011) ‘The New Bottom Billion: What If Most of the World's Poor Live in Middle-Income Countries? ’http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1424922 (accessed: 30th March, 2011)

United Nations Statistic Organization (2007) Report of United Nations Millennium Development Department of Economic and Social Affairs: United States

United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2005) ‘the state of the world’s children’ http://www.unicef.org/sowc05/english/sowc05.pdf (accessed: 5th April, 2011)

World Bank Group (2010) ‘Poverty: social fund for development’ in J. Healey (ed) Foreign Aid and World Debt. Issues in Society Vol.134 The Spinney Press: Sydney

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