Today’s world is faced with numerous social problems that pose enormous threats to humanity. Many of these problems threaten our very survival. Poverty is an issue that plagues all societies in every part of the world. Not even the most privileged countries can seemingly avoid it. It has a huge presence in the United States which is one of the wealthiest nations in the world.
Everyone knows what the word poverty means. It means poor, unable to buy the necessities to survive in today's world. We do not realize how easy it is for a person to fall into poverty: A lost job, a sudden illness, a death in the family or the endless cycle of being born into poverty and not knowing how to overcome it. There are so many children in poverty and a family's structure can effect the outcome. Most of the people who are at the poverty level need some type of help to overcome the obstacles. There are mane issues that deal with poverty and many things that can be done to stop it.
Many times it is easy for people to hide certain aspects of their lives. However, poverty is not one of them. When a person is poor, it is humiliating for themselves, their families, and is very difficult to overcome. Although poverty is not always a choice, it is a preventable problem in today’s society that can be fixed. If people have the ability to recognize that this is a problem that affects people everywhere and are willing to do something about it, the percentage of poverty-stricken persons would be down to almost nothing.
“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).
What is poverty? Poverty can be defined in many different ways but according to the encyclopedia, poverty is the lack of many things like basic human needs, for example clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. The inability to afford them is what causes poverty. The cause and effect of poverty placed in many different places. Some may say that poverty can be the result from lack of money but the truth lies deeper than that. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the major causes and sub causes, as well as effects of poverty. Some are education, hunger, health insurance, homelessness, crimes and some of the sub causes as depression, obesity, substandard housing and stress.
Poverty has many causes. In some third world countries, poverty is very widespread because they do not have enough resources to provide basic needs for their population. In those countries there is not enough safe drinking water, and they do not produce enough food to feed all of the people that live there. In countries that aren’t as desperately poor, there are still large numbers of people living in poverty, because those countries don’t have enough job opportunities that allow the poor to make enough money to pay for the food and shelter that they need. Even in more advanced and modern countries, people can fall into and have a hard time getting out of poverty, because they don’t have access to an adequate edu...
Poverty itself is a controversial and widely debated issue with a variety of opposing viewpoints. Despite differences in opinions on how poverty should be treated, the vast majority agrees that poverty is a problem plagues the nation on both economic and social levels. Economically, poverty affects everyone. As taxes are paid by the entire nation, poverty influences where our money goes and how it is spent. Socially, poverty affects families and individuals on an emotional level. Impoverishment affects happiness and health, the decisions people make, and most importantly the development of children. To best understand poverty, one must look at the issue economically and socially, and contextualize the numbers surrounding poverty as well as
Education, or inadequate education or lack of an education, causes poverty. From the early years of preschool, into the years of K-12, without a college education and on into the work force people in poverty may never stop suffering from it if they do not become educated.
There are many causes of poverty that do not stem from an individual’s choice, but from society as a whole. Causes of poverty include changing trends in a country’s economy, high divorce rates, overpopulation, epidemic diseases, environmental conflicts, low-income rates and lack of education.
There are several factors, causes, or reasons why “poverty as a phenomenon exists at all levels; global, national, community, and individual” . Among other causes includes the following;
To begin with, poverty is very difficult to define. However, it is a condition where the basic needs of mankind namely food, clothing and shelter are not met. According to the World Bank indicators, 2008, 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. It is also a well-known fact that more than 80% of the world’s population lives in countries where salary gaps are wide. The poorest 40% of the world’s population accounts for 5% of global income and the richest 20% accounts for three-quarters of world income.
Poverty can be described as many things, it can be described as hunger, lack of shelter, not having access to school, not knowing how to read and much more. Despite the definitions, one thing we know for sure is that poverty is a complex societal issue. Poverty is a large cause of social tensions and threatens to separated a nation because of the issue of inequalities, more specifically, income inequality. Poverty is a main impact of globalization, it can affect a whole nation by furthering inequalities. Overall, has affected all of developing countries and has a crucial impact on developed countries.