POVERTY

POVERTY IS LIKE PUNISHMENT FOR A CRIME YOU DIDN’T COMMIT

Look at those wide eyes…

starring blankly at the sky

with no tears left to cry

Look at those skinny arms…

with no muscular charm,

and no protection from harm.

Look at the stomach protrude…

due to hanger and lack of food,

with conditions bleak and crude.

We can define poverty as the condition where the basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing and education are not fulfilled.

Poverty affects millions of people in the world. It means not being able to heat your home, pay your rent, or buy the essentials for your children, or even waking up every day facing insecurity, uncertainty, and impossible decisions about money. People in these conditions face marginalisation and discrimination because of their financial circumstances. The constant stress it causes, can lead to problems that deprive people of the chance to play a full part in society.

GLOBAL POVERTY

Global poverty is one of the worst problems that the world faces nowadays. The poorest in the world are often hunfry, have much less acces to education, regularly have no light at night and suffer from much poorer and increadibly terrible health. To make progress against poverty is therefore one of the most urgent global goals.

While global poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 2000

736 million people lived below the international poverty line of US$ 1.90 a day in 2018.
Most people living below the poverty line belong to two regions: Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
High poverty rates are often found in small, fragile and conflict-affected countries.
As of 2018, 55 per cent of the world’s population have no access to at least one social protection cash benefit.

WHAT ARE THE TWO MAIN CAUSES OF POVERTY?

INEQUALITY

Often, people living in extreme poverty are not recognised as equals in society and experience discrimination, stigmatisation and exclusion. As a result, people lack representation, power and status, which prevents them from claiming their rights and denies them the opportunities and resources to improve their lives.

Gender inequality, in particular, is a consistent feature of extreme poverty and remains a major obstacle to the abolition of poverty.

RISK AND VULNERABILITY

Numerous poor countries have weak, under-resourced systems of governance, and suffer from inappropriate and unsustainable policies.

Also, those areas have recurrent floods, droughts, tropical storms, earthquakes, landslides and crop pests and are vulnerable to diseases, which worsens the circumstances. Economic crises, high food prices and climate change are already, and are expected to continue, to impact on the poorest most and increase their risk and vulnerability to other shocks and stresses.