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What is Global Poverty?

what is global poverty?
What is global poverty? That thing called poverty – how exactly is it defined? What does it mean to lead an impoverished life? Poverty is much more than just statistics about economies, hunger, and homelessness. Poverty is a state of life, affecting all of humanity.

Poverty is most commonly defined by economic standards, based on income levels and access to basic human necessities, such as food, water, and shelter. Poverty is often described with a scale, ranging from extreme to moderate levels. The internationally agreed-upon measurement of extreme poverty currently lies at $1.25 a day, with the next lowest measure of poverty standing at $2 per day. The geographic breakdown of regions with the highest levels of poverty ranging from worst to best include: Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Pacific East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, North Africa and the Middle East, and Europe and Central Asia.

 

Assessing the Impact: What is Global Poverty?

 

Poverty has many ties to physical health as well, as the world’s poorest countries consistently demonstrate the lowest life expectancies. The majority of these health problems can be traced back to unsafe drinking water and malnutrition, which causes an estimated 8 million people to die every year in addition to 30,000 children’s deaths per day.

Another problem with poverty is the acts of desperation it drives people to. When humans are deprived of basic life necessities, they are forced to take desperate measures in an effort to change their bleak future. Historically, poverty has proven to be the cause of much violence and conflict and continues to be so today. In many situations human trafficking, the use of child soldiers, and prostitution can all be linked to poverty.

In what is perhaps a testament to the subjective definition of poverty, there are mixed results in reducing poverty levels today. According to data from The Economist, nearly one billion people have been lifted out of chronic poverty over the last two decades. While this initially sounds very positive, one must also consider the huge levels of wealth disparity that have shot up in this same time period, as the poorest 20 percent of the world’s population uses a mere 1.3 percent of global resources in contrast to the richest 20% consuming an approximated 86 percent of the world’s resources.

Poverty can be a controversial subject in modern society, as individuals have different understandings of what it means to be poor and what appropriate solutions to poverty should look like. Skeptics criticize the economic definition of poverty because it fails to factor in quality of life. Rather than focusing on pure economic data, most agree that the definition of poverty must also include political and cultural factors and access to opportunities, education, and healthcare. If there’s one thing that can be agreed on, it would be that poverty is a real problem affecting millions of people around the world today, and poverty is a complex issue with multiple layers.

– Allison Meade

Sources: United Nations, World Health Organization, Global Issues, World Bank, ASCD

Growing Inequality in Thailand

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Thailand is often known as the land of beautiful beaches, burgeoning tourism, and The Hangover 2. But that’s not quite the whole picture. While Thailand has seen great developmental leaps over the past 20 years, the country still faces challenges with poverty and more recently growing inequality in Thailand.

At the surface, Thailand appears to lie in a positive, growing position. Starting in 1990, the poverty level decreased from 27 percent to 9.8 percent, in just 12 years. The number of chronically underweight children dropped to half its previous measurement in this same time period. Access to education and literacy rates continue to improve annually.

The problem lies in the fact that this growth has been concentrated in cities and urban areas, leaving the rural communities and hill tribes to suffer. Nearly one million children lack documents proving their birth registration. This means the Thai government does not recognize them as citizens, preventing them from receiving any governmental benefits and recognition of their basic human rights.

While unemployment stands at a promising 2 percent rate, child labor remains a fact of life for many, with an estimated 818,000 children aged five to fourteen generating income for their families. As Thailand’s economy continues to grow from increased international trade and as educational standards increase, this number is expected to fall.

Issues with water sanitation have continued to create health problems for 4 percent of the country, with the majority of that 4 percent consisting of rural communities without proper sanitary technology or regulations. This lack of clean water leads to malnutrition and the spread of disease through bacteria.

Human trafficking continues to stand out as significant problem for the Thai people. This underground industry leads to thousands of kidnapped people who are then forced into modern day slavery, in the form of prostitution or forced labor. The popularity of prostitution in the country also contributes to the spread of HIV and AIDS, currently afflicting more than 610,000 people.

Currently 9.8 percent of the population lives under the poverty line. This percentage is largely concentrated in the rural outskirts of the country. This demographic consists of small farmers, without access to education. In contrast, many citizens in the urban areas of Thailand have benefited from the job creation generated by the country’s growing international economy.

Geographically, the struggling sections of the country lie on the borders, with the hill tribes in the far northern and far southern regions remain left behind as the rest of Thailand has progressed over the last two decades. These isolated areas see the greatest problems with hunger, with women and children’s health in particular struggling with malnutrition and mortality rates. Without access to proper medical care, little improvement is being made and disease continues to spread. Similarly, a lack of education prevents these remote areas from growing economically.

While Thailand certainly has achieved great progress in meeting its problems with poverty, there remains much work to be accomplished. The growing disparity in both wealth and basic human rights must be addressed and the country must unify even its most distant regions in order to continue to move forward in its developmental journey.

– Allison Meade

Sources: World Vision, Central Intelligence Agency
Photo: Bunnie Blog

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Single Mothers and Poverty in Latvia

Latvia is a country with one of the widest income gaps in the European Union. This gap was expanded by the global economic crisis, which caused income levels in the country to decline by 19%. The IMF confirms that the economic recession very severely damaged the economy of Latvia. According to the Fund, “the richest 20 percent of the population (in Latvia) earn seven times more than the bottom 20 percent.” The IMF warns that these adverse conditions put Latvians at a higher risk of poverty.

The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism notes that the country does not provide adequate government-funded support for its poor. In fact, the small Baltic nation spends less on social welfare programs than any other European Union member state. For example, when compared to her northern neighbor Estonia, which spends 40% more per capita on social protection programs annually for the poor than Latvia, the lack of poverty-reduction programs from the Latvian government is quite conspicuous.

One of the most “at risk” groups in post-recession Latvia are single mothers. The cost of living has increased over the last few years, due in a large part to changes in tax policies which caused the price of heat and water utilities to rise significantly. The Baltic Center’s report highlights the struggles of a single mother living in Saldus, a town in western Latvia, trying to make ends meet in a small apartment with her two young children.  The mother can’t afford to buy or run a refrigerator, so the family lives off of a meager subsistence of room temperature dry foods and water. The tiny apartment also does not have a shower, so the children are forced to wash in the gym locker rooms at the primary school, a school where they attend classes with no supplies because their mother doesn’t have the money to buy them.

The plight of single mothers in Latvia has prompted many of them to leave the country. The income provided from a minimum wage job in Latvia is simply not enough to support a woman with one or more children, even in the smallest of living spaces. The mother in the Baltic Center article earns only three euros a day and has been forced to ask her friends for donations to keep her family afloat. Three euros a day is hardly enough money for a single, childless woman to survive in a developed country, let alone a mother responsible for a family.

As the Latvian government comes out of the recession, politicians should propose welfare programs for single mothers living below the poverty line. Failure to confront this critical social issue will only result in increased emigration and a more extreme wealth gap.

– Josh Forgét

Sources: Baltica, The Washington Post
Photo: Baltica

Oil, Inequality, and Youth: Poverty in Gabon

Gabon Inequality
Gabon, the oil rich Central African country, continues to struggle with widespread poverty. Dependent largely on oil and natural resources including timber and manganese, Gabon’s economy struggles to attain sustainable methods of growth.

With 50% of the GDP reliant on oil sales, the necessity for economic diversity stems from the post-peak levels of oil drilling and the sharp depletion of oil production within the country.

Despite an above average GDP/capita of $17,300 and a status as an upper middle income economy, Gabon continues to face large income inequality. According to the African Development Bank (AFDB), one third of the population lives below the poverty line, with 13.2% living in severe poverty. This conflicts greatly with the label of upper middle income status.

To pinpoint poverty in Gabon, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) allows us to understand and compare a country’s poverty levels with 3 dimensions: education, health, and standard of living. Conducted by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), the MPI shows us that 35.4% of the population live in poverty with limited education, nutrition, and a low standard of living.

The universally understood poverty measurements of US $1.25/day, US $2/day, and the National Poverty Line provide a more in depth view of the varying levels of poverty. OPHI found that 4.8% live on less than $1.25/day, 19.6% live on less than $2/day, and 32.7% live below the National Poverty Line.

To further understand the large percent of impoverished Gabonese we must look into the wealth disparity and unemployment. The biggest drawback of an undiversified economy dependent on commodities is limited jobs within the sector. With such a high percent of GDP due to oil drilling, few Gabonese benefit from the sector. This lack of employment in an undiversified economy manifests itself in an unemployment rate of 21%.

Along with unemployment, two other issues factor into Gabon’s development: the large proportion of youth in the country and high urbanization. The AFDB found that 35.6% of the population is under 15, with 60% of that demographic unemployed. They also learned that nearly 86% of the population resides in urban areas, meaning that more than one third of the population lives in the capital city of Libreville.

In spite of these shortcomings, President Bongo Ondimba has begun work on increasing transparency and Gabon’s attractiveness to investors. In April 2010, the country began its attempts to improve the diversity of the economy. To accomplish this the government started to develop the “energy, mining, forest, tourism and agro-industrial potential.” Not forgetting the financial plight of its poorest citizens, the government has also raised the minimum monthly wage and created “solidarity allowance” to benefit very low-income workers.

– Michael Carney

Sources: African Development Bank, CIA World Factbook
Photo: Africa Review

The Widening Gap of Global Inequality

poverty-reductionThe gap between rich and poor is widening. It takes money to make money, and so inequality is becoming exacerbated as the rich get richer.

Rising inequality has impeded efforts to eliminate global poverty. With a greater share of wealth being captured by those in the highest income bracket, the amount reaching the lowest is continually decreasing. Two nations with equivalent GDP growth rates could have drastically different levels of poverty depending on income equality. For example, in India, the net worth of 46 billionaires is $176 billion. This number represents 12% of the GDP of India, as opposed to 1% fifteen years ago. Half of that amount would be enough to eliminate absolute poverty in India.

The irony of this unchecked growth of the upper classes is that eventually it can result in a restriction of growth. Extreme inequality slows the development of markets and limits investment opportunities for the poor. Inequality also diminishes the political power of the poor. This skewing of power can reduce government efficiency and allow for tax evasion by the wealthy, limiting the government’s ability to invest in necessary infrastructure to sustain growth.

If we’re to see success in the fight against global poverty, then rising equality must be allowed to play its part.

– David Wilson

Source: The Guardian
Photo: Global Post

What The Hunger Games Tells Us About Global Poverty

The Hunger Games Global Poverty
For a young adult series, Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games offers a surprisingly biting criticism of the status quo in the West. Her story is one of a privileged district in society that is altogether indifferent to the suffering going on outside its boundaries.  Although Collin disguises it with different names, she has not ventured far from our present reality of global poverty.

The Hunger Games is set in a dystopic future world, where citizens live in an area divided by districts. District One & Two are the wealthiest, and control the majority of the resources. As they spread further and further out, the regions become more impoverished. The heroine of the novel, Katniss Everdeen, is from the last, District 13, and relies on her wits, her will and a crude bow and arrow to support her family. Through its fantastical descriptions, outlandish characters and futuristic technology, Collins’ world manages to appear quite distinct from our own. Yet, in a thinly veiled criticism Collins has painted an unsettling portrait of ourselves and the world we live in.

 

The Hunger Games: A Lesson on Global Poverty

 

The parallel escapes many of the fans of the books, but those who live in District One are akin to the top percent in the world: they have enough to eat, access to clean water, safe homes and opportunities for betterment. For this percentage of the world, daily life is not a struggle: it is a thing to be enjoyed, to find happiness and meaning, to indulge in fads and fancies and fashion. Much like the District One in the books, the humans in District One seem bizarre and alien in comparison to those struggling on the fringes. They have none of the same concerns and seem largely unaware of the brutal reality that exists just beyond their borders.

The Hunger Games offers an uncomfortable mirror to our own world. In our daily lives, we often obsess about trivialities: we track celebrities, dedicate time to watching who wore what dress, aim to buy smartphones and cars while the vast majority of the world struggles to scrape a living out of the most dire circumstances.

As audiences, we automatically condemn District One; without even meeting them, we judge everyone in it and see the plot’s revolution as inevitable and cheer for Katniss. In reality, however, we are not quite as benevolent. We are quick to make excuses to preserve self-interest. Poverty and the state of the world do not often rank among our daily concerns, as much as what to wear and what people think of us. On the national scale, US foreign aid consists of less than 1% of the budget; this covers everything from healthcare to military aid to food assistance.

The Hunger Games has captivated a number of readers in the United States; and yet, for some, Collins has posed a very uncomfortable and very important question – what makes us so different from District One?

– Farahnaz Mohammed

Photo: Film.com

5 Lessons Game of Thrones Teaches About Poverty

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HBO’s Game of Thrones is escapist fantasy at its finest. The sprawling world of Westeros has a rich and complicated history, scores of characters, and enough intertwining storylines to make Greek mythology look simple. The show has been lauded for its ability to transport an audience away from their current lives and immerse them into Martin’s fantasy world.

At the same time, behind the direwolves and dragons, much of the success of Martin’s series lies in the fact that it resonates so strongly with our own world. From love to loneliness to injustice, the personal feelings of the characters, which so strongly push forward the plot, hit close to home. It reflects the failings we see around us, in our own lives, in politics, and perhaps most disturbingly in our social system.

Game of Thrones, for the sharp viewer, has important messages to be sent about what it is to wield power and how to do it, lessons that could be applied to the most powerful nation in the world.

 

[dropcap3]1[/dropcap3]The importance of the poor for security. In Game of Thrones, the greatest threat to the throne is not the various potential usurpers who are vying for it. Rather, it is far more insidious; it is the threat of the people the King tramples and abuses through neglect. The main motivation for one of the potential rivals, often repeated, is that she has the support of the people. The raw power of the populace is seen in the scene where the royal family ventures out of the castle, and is set upon by a starving, angry mob. The only thing that saves the Lannister family from their misrule is the arrival of the charitable Tyrells, who floods the city with food, resources, and much-needed PR for the royal family. Though intangible, a good reputation image can be as powerful as military muscle. This is why top military leaders like former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stress the importance of international humanitarian assistance by USAID.

 

[dropcap3]2[/dropcap3]Past injustices become present day tragedies. Old grievances have a way of resurfacing. Throughout the series, we are told more and more of the backstory, because so much of it is relevant to the present events. Theon’s capture and subsequent service to the Starks came full-circle in Theon’s betrayal, despite how well he had lived as a steward. There are lessons to be learned from this; bad deeds live longer in memory than good ones. George W Bush’s legacy, for example, will not be his HIV program, but instead, plunging the nation into Iraq.

 

[dropcap3]3[/dropcap3]The rags-to-riches story is largely a myth. It is a tenet of the American belief system to place a lot of power in an individual’s determination to change her or his own circumstance. It is easy (and comfortable) to blame lower classes for their own misfortune; either through laziness, carelessness, or a simple lack of worth. It is a natural – though erroneous – human reaction to assume that those who have, deserve and those who do not, have not earned it. There are a number of social climbers in Martin’s series who are smart, savvy, brave, determined – and are crushed. Roz, the plucky girl from Winterfell, endures indignity, torture, and abuse only to meet an untimely end. Mance Rayder, the brave and charismatic leader of the Wildlings, has been exiled to lead a bare and miserable existence. The elite in Martin’s world are often the most despicable, with the bravest and best – Osha, Tyrion, Arya, Bran and Jojen Reed, for example – being the crippled, the overlooked, the downtrodden, and the poor.  For the 2.6 billion people across the globe living on less than 2 dollars a day, the only way to significantly improve their well-being is with a helping hand from people and governments in more privileged positions.

 

[dropcap3]4[/dropcap3]Equality is not a simple matter. While followers of the show who have not read the books will not yet be aware, Daenerys Targaryen’s noble campaign to end slavery does not go as smoothly as planned. Though well-intentioned, her somewhat blind rush to right all the wrongs she saw in front of her bears little fruit, and she quickly loses her way in politics, poverty, and a lack of foresight. Aid is not simply a matter of giving, and it cannot be left unplanned or unsupervised. The story bears similarities to the current restructuring of Afghanistan and Iraq; after a bloody decade in the countries, US citizens are demanding withdrawal of troops, with US Generals stating the grave dangers of leaving such a large job unfinished. Sieges and wars are dramatic and make good stories, but the most important work lies in the far less flashy and far more tedious affair of slow and steady empowerment.

 

[dropcap3]5[/dropcap3]Poverty begets violence. Poverty does not stay a problem of the poor. It seeps into all parts of a society in the form of crime, violence, and corruption. In an increasingly globalized world, the importance of stability cannot be understated. The seeds of terrorism are in poverty; its strength lies in the desperation of the most downtrodden. The most powerful governments, France, Russia, and most recently the Arab Spring – have all fallen in the face of the power of those they previously deemed unworthy of consideration.

– Farahnaz Mohammed

Sources: Global Issues The Borgen Project
Photo: HDW

Pediatric HIV Treatment Must Be Reassessed

hiv children treatment where you live botswana study efavirenz nevirapine medicine
There are over 3 million children that are HIV-positive, with more than 90% of them living in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends both efavirenz and nevirapine for first-line pediatric use in resource-limited settings such as sub-Saharan Africa. A recent study compared the first-line treatments for HIV-positive children and was conducted by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, along with colleagues at the Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence. The study found that initial treatment with efavirenz was more effective than nevirapine in suppressing the virus in children ages 3 to 16, and that nevirapine is less effective than efavirenz. Nevirapine, the less effective drug, is used much more often in countries with a high prevalence of HIV.

The study notes that nevirapine costs less than efavirenz and is more widely available in pediatric formulations, which may explain this disturbing fact. Studies that focused on adult treatment also found efavirenz to be more effective than nevirapine. Conclusively, the study states, “Given this evidence, it is very reasonable to adjust pediatric HIV treatment guidelines…more work should be done to make efavirenz a more financially viable option for children on anti-retroviral therapy in these resource-limited settings.”

– Essee Oruma

Source: allAfrica
Photo: Science Daily

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John Legend: Singer, Songwriter, Humanitarian

johnlegend
As a nine-time Grammy award winner, John Legend is well known as a singer, songwriter, and humanitarian. His vocals have earned him a multitude of worldwide fans and a string of Top 10 platinum-selling albums. His most recent release, Wake Up! (2010) is a compilation of music from the 1960s and ’70s including songs with underlying themes of awareness, engagement, and social consciousness. Legend, while a talented musician, seeks to be an agent of change in society. He is a member of several boards including Teach for America, Stand for Children, and the Harlem Village Academies.

As he spoke to a crowd of interested attendees in Southern Indiana, Legend focused on education equality and social awareness. Legend was inspiring, motivating, and very real in his comments. Early in his career, Legend had the opportunity to travel to Africa and it forever changed his life. He realized that his position in life granted him a platform to spread awareness and raise the standard for education and community involvement. Legend tirelessly works to promote education equality, which he believes is key to raising people out of poverty. By providing access to quality education for all individuals, we can ensure that being poor is not a life sentence but that there are opportunities to escape poverty and improve one’s life.

Legend gave the audience several tips on how to get involved in fighting for education equality from right where they sit.
His ideas included:

1. Join local boards and organizations working to improve education

2. Tutor students in local schools.

3. Encourage others to invest in schools.

4. Choose political leaders who take meaningful action within education.

The evening ended with the challenge from Legend to go and do something. The time for sitting still has passed and now the call to the work for education equality and diminished global poverty has arrived.

– Amanda Kloeppel

Source: Evansville Courier and Press

The Unequal Reality

The Unequal RealityThe next global development agenda has been set. The President of Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, hosted the meeting to determine such an agenda; he also served as the co-chairman to the UN High-Level Panel for the post-2015 plan with an emphasis on eradicating extreme poverty. Despite the general success of the UN Millennium Development Goals which includes pulling people out of poverty since the 1990s, an increasing number of children are attending schools, and much fewer children are dying due to curable causes: “political will and commitment can bring about real change.”

The issue is that the majority of these successes are happening on the surface, on the “aggregate” levels as opposed to on the extremely low levels. A report done by Save the Children evinces the hidden inequality behind improvements arguing that only wealthier parts have been directly affected by these successes. For example, rich women in Indonesia now have a skilled attendant; however, between 2007 and 2010, children in poorer households continued to experience severe malnutrition despite overall nutrition improvements.

“Aggregate targets” are dictating such unequal distribution of improvement vs. worsening because governments are naturally choosing to aid and invest in what is easier to help; “this means that those close to the poverty line experience improvements while the very poorest are left behind.” Children are the most vulnerable group affected by such inequality because they are dependent on others for development and growth. Therefore, price increases affect their meal intakes, health budget cuts could cause deaths, and low-quality schools have the potential of keeping these children in poverty. In order to fight off inequality, there is a need for quality services such as availability and equal access to schools and health facilities to all kinds of people.

– Leen Abdallah

Source: South China Morning Post