Comparing the Rich versus the Poor

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Rich vs. Poor: Distributing the World’s Wealth Equally

Think about the house that you live in, the neighbors that surround you and the town where you come from. More importantly, think about the car, clothing, and material things that you possess. Living an absolutely affluent life, as most of us do, is something that we take for granted. Now put yourself in the shoes of a child at the age of 5 in Zambia. There is no roof over your head, no shoes on your feet, and no food on the table to eat. You live every day wondering how much longer you will survive in this situation. This example may represent an extreme situation in Zambia, but forces one to think about how many people are living in poverty throughout the world.

Poor people often lack adequate food and shelter and education and health, which keeps them from leading the kind of life that everyone values. They are extremely vulnerable to illness, to economic displacement, and are treated negatively by institutions in society. Of the world’s 6 billion people, 2.8 billion live on less than $2 a day, and 1.2 billion live on less than $1 a day. In rich countries, fewer than 5 percent of all children under 5 are malnourished, in poor countries as many as 50 percent are (Attacking poverty 3). This impoverishment continues to exist even though human conditions have improved more in the past century than ever before. Global wealth and technically advanced capabilities may be at their highest levels yet, but the distribution of these gains is tremendously unequal. The increasing rates of poverty throughout many countries in the world and the imbalance of wealth leads me to believe that the rich have a moral obligation to help those who are less fortunate. According t...

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... and improving sanitation conditions would better the life of the poor. If people would be willing to make small contributions to the poor, poverty rates could possibly begin to decline altogether. If the extremes of relative wealth and poverty are diminished I believe it would lead to a world where being absolutely poor no longer exits.

Works Cited

* “Attacking Poverty: Opportunity, Empowerment, and Security.” World Development Report 2001/2002: 1-12. http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty

* “Rich vs. Poor Stats.” Online: http://geocities.com/mrastafari/richpoor.html

* Singer, Peter. “Rich and Poor.” Practical Ethics, 2nd ed.: 218-246. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993

* Singer, Peter. “The Singer Solution to World Poverty.” The New York Times. September 5, 1999: 1-7. http://www.fordham.edu/economics/combs/savechild.pdf

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