“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings” – Nelson Mandela.
Poverty refers to the condition of not having the means to afford basic human needs such as clean water, nutrition, health care, clothing, food, and shelter; a condition that 80 percent of the world faces. For thousands of years, the world has been adjusting to the increasing urbanization. While this process has helped improve the development of expanding communities in the long run, it has also caused some major issues. As populations increase at a fast rate, communities are becoming overwhelmed. The cities that lack adequate infrastructure and organization don’t know how to handle the rising challenges, leading to the creation of urban slums. In these poor living conditions, people have a higher risk of disease.
Even though hunger is one of the largest, and most well-known problems that poverty causes, it can also include inadequate income, inadequate shelter, inadequate supply of basic services, limited or no safety net to ensure access to health care, not providing adequate public infrastructure, poor protection of rights by the law, lack of power and unable to speak up as a group, poor countries must export more products in order to raise enough money to pay off their debts, and the value of labor is decreasing. Poverty is one of the greatest, man-made, global and local issues that affects us and everything around us, which can be fixed with the provision of quality education.
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Poverty is an issue across the world, affecting around 5.6 billion people directly. Three billion of them live in poverty on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty, on less than $1.25 a day and 25% of all humans live without electricity. This is something many of us might believe we are not affected by, but the statistics for global poverty prove us wrong. Even if we are not directly affected by poverty, it still affects us and everything around us. We contribute to the escalation of poverty without even noticing what we are doing. We buy products, and many of those products come from places in which the working conditions are devastating. Where the workers making these products are getting an indecently low pay. So whether you take notice of it or not, you are part of the reason why poverty is still a problem.
Per capita GDP refers to the total value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a particular year, divided by the number of people living there. This is the best measurement for the standard of lifestyle in a country, and the best measurement to indicate poverty rates. North America is the continent with the highest per capita GDP. Africa is the continent with the lowest per capita GDP in the world. One of the reasons for this is that unlike the economies in developed countries, African countries suffering through poverty, do not have large markets to sell their products and resources. This will lead to severe economic and environmental problems, for the lack of knowledge and education, which was caused by poverty on the first place.
Forests provide the world with clean air and reduce drastic climate changes. This benefit will no longer exist if poverty continues. Air pollution is another way in which poverty contributes to environmental degradation. Poor communities lack the proper knowledge when it comes to production techniques because they probably did not have the best education. For this reason, the ways in which they use resources to help them survive are harmful to the environment. Air pollution, and other types of pollution, are a major consequence of poor production techniques. Water pollution is a result of poor water management that affects so many things beyond the developing community itself. It kills marine life or poisons them with harmful substances. This related to humans because eating seafood will put human health in a jeopardous position. Poor regions need to adjust these methods, but the lack of education wont allow for that. Providing qualified individuals who know of the proper and harmless methods to dispose of waste, can put an end to some of the environmental effects of poverty.
There was an experiment in the late 1960s, where a team of researchers began helping families with young children in rural Guatemala by providing them with nutritional supplement. Their hypothesis was that providing a child with enough protein in the first few years of their life would reduce the chance of stunted growth, or allowing them to grow more. Children who got these supplements grew around 2 cm taller than those in a control group where they did not have nutritional supplements. When the children grew up to be teenagers, the teens who received nutritional benefits as children scored higher on reading and knowledge tests. After the experiment, they found that their hypothesis was right. Other studies of brain development used tests of memory and speech to prove better nutrition can potentially lead to a better life.
Africa is a continent with the richest resources in the world but the poorest people. Africa is one of the wealthiest continents in the world in terms of natural resources. Many of its countries have rich reserves of minerals and resources high in value like bauxite, diamonds, coltan, and gold, oil, gas, and timber. The way in which the word “rich can be defined depends on the perspective of the person defining it. Some people argue that ‘riches is not by what is inside the land but it is about what the people on the land are capable of doing with whatever is in the land” and “wealth is not in the exportation of natural resources but rather in the conversion of natural resources into finished goods”. This gives the wealth of a country or continent a whole different meaning. If we were to define wealth and richness by these terms, that would make Africa the poorest continent in the world.
Half of the Nigerian population is living in extreme poverty on less than $1.90/day. Nigeria is now the country with the highest number of poor people in the world. Nigeria’s extreme poverty number grows by about 6 people per minute. That may seem small but it actually translates into the current statistic of 71.5 million people living below the poverty line. Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, yet they have struggled in turning their wealth in resources into higher living standards. Africans account for about 2/3rds of the people living in extreme poverty in the world. This goes to prove that countries with riches in resource or other geographical features, aren’t necessarily they countries with the best living standards or the richest people.
We usually think of the United States as being a rich and powerful country; however, the reality is that 1/7 people in the US are currently living below poverty line. It’s hard to compare different countries’ poverty levels because different countries have different currencies, family income levels, consumption patterns, prices for goods and services, and spending patterns. Different countries also have different criteria for setting absolute income thresholds that define what poverty is and how it is to be measured. As a result, most studies use relative measures of poverty as a basis for comparison.
When looking at the data from the Luxembourg Income Study, we can see that the researchers of this study showed that the United States has the highest relative poverty rates amongst 10 other countries including Finland, Sweden, Germany, Canada, The United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Australia. Even though the United StTates has a high poverty rate, there is education available throughout most of the country and there are many organizations that are helping this poverty rate decrease. Thanks to this, the official poverty rate has decreased by 2.5% since 2014 and will hopefully continue to do so in future years.
Even in our own local community, there is an alarming high poverty rate. San Diego County ranks thirteenth in poverty rate among major metropolitan areas in the U.S. Almost 14 percent of San Diego’s total population lives below the national poverty line. Different locations in the San Diego County have different poverty statistics. Del Mar has the highest median household income in the county and National City has the lowest. Only 8% of Del Mar’s population is living under the poverty line, while 55% of National City’s population is living under the poverty line. There are local organizations helping cities like National City in hosting fundraisers to help decrease the egregiously high number.
The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank is one of the largest hunger-relief organization in San Diego. In 2017, the JCSD Food Bank distributed 28 million pounds of food to people in need. They serve an average of 370,000 people per month. This food bank provides nutritious food to families and individuals who are suffering through hunger or food insecurity. Their mission is to “provide nutritious food to people in need, advocate for the hungry, and educate the public about hunger-related issues”
Even though non-profit organizations like the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank are applying many people with food, there are larger problems that occur due to poverty that these types of organizations can’t do much about. This is when the Government and Government organizations step in to help. Poverty is about much more than not having food, but that is one of the main issues that branches from poverty. San Diego Hunger Coalition leads action to end hunger in San Diego County supported by research, education, and advocacy.
Their vision is that everyone in San Diego County has enough food for an active, healthy life. They will achieve this by other methods, involving changing the law. Some of their goals include: “building a more effective and interconnected system of food assistance resources, enabling low-income individuals and families to purchase more healthy food by increasing participation in CalFresh, a monthly supplement to a household’s food budget ensuring all children have year-round access to healthy food by expanding school meals and other federal child nutrition programs, and advocating for legislative and administrative policies that reduce hunger and increase access to healthy food.
The “Community Action Plan” is a two year plan demonstrating how the “Community Services Block Grant” can help. This plan involves delivering CSBG services that include poverty related needs and resources to the individuals and families most affected by poverty in small communities throughout the San Diego County. CSBG funds will be used to support activities that assist low-income families and individuals, homeless families and individuals, farm workers and elderly low-income individuals.
