Poverty throughout the World

1. Poverty throughout the World

2. Povertyn. the state of being poor; lack of the means of providing material needs or comforts. • 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 • Poverty is fear for the future • Poverty is living one day at a time • Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water • Poverty is powerlessness and the lack of representation and freedom • Poverty is a concept difficult to define

3. The View From A Distance • Impossible to comprehend a world where an open sewer may run past one’s front door • Most basic necessities such as food and water may be available tomorrow, but many not • Going to bed hungry is a given

4. Poverty types… • Absolute poverty • Relative poverty • Chronic or long-term poverty • Episodic poverty

5. Facts • The GDP of poorest 48 nations (1/4 of worlds countries) is less than the wealth of the world’s richest people combined • 1 billion are unable to read a book or sign their names • Less than 1% of what the world spent on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and it didn’t happen • The wealthiest nation on Earth has the widest gap between rich and poor • 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the world’s goods • The lives of 1.7 million children will be needlessly lost this year because world governments have failed to reduce poverty levels • 12% of the world’s population uses 85% of its water and these 12% do not live in the third world

6. Facts • Consider the global priorities in spending in 1998 U.S. $ billions • Cosmetics in the US – 8 • Ice Cream in Europe – 11 • Perfumes in US and Europe – 12 • Pet foods in US and Europe – 17 • Cigarettes in Europe – 50 • Alcoholic drinks in Europe – 105 • Narcotic drugs in the world – 400

7. Facts • And then compare that to what was estimated as additional costs to achieve universal access to basic social services in all developing countries U.S. $ billions • Basic education for all – 6 • Water and sanitation for all – 9 • Reproductive health for all women – 12 • Basic health and nutrition - 13

8. Facts • Number of children in the world – 2.2 billion • Number in poverty – 1 billion • For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: • 640 million without adequate shelter • 400 million with no access to safe water • 270 million with no access to health services • Children out of education worldwide – 121 million

9. Facts • Survival for children • 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 • 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation • Health of children worldwide • 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized • 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS

10. Measuring Poverty at the Global Level • $1 a day • Estimated in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below • $2 a day • 2.7 billion lived on less than • Roughly 40%

12. Percentage of Population Living on less than $1 a day

13. Causes of Poverty • Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance. Some possible factors include: • Lacking infrastructure • Lacking healthcare • No available education • Overpopulation • Taxes • Historical factors • Lacking free trade/trade barriers • Substance abuse • Individual beliefs, actions and choices • Discrimination of various kinds • Natural factors such as climate/environment • Not enough jobs • Human factors such as war and crime • Countries with an abundance of natural resources creating quick wealth from exports tend to have less long-term prosperity than countries with less of these natural resources • Inadequate nutrition • Disease • Lacking rule of law

14. Effects of Poverty • Clinical depression • Lack of sanitation • Increased vulnerability to natural disasters • Extremism • Hunger and starvation • Human trafficking • High crime rate • Increased suicides • Increased risk of political violence • Terrorism, war, genocide • Homelessness • Lack of opportunities for employment • Low literacy • Social isolation • Increased discrimination • Lower life expectancy • Drug/alcohol abuse

15. Malnutrition and Starvation • Most common effect of poverty • In Ethiopia half of children under 5 suffer from malnutrition • Protein-energy malnutrition • Gastrointestinal disorders, stunted growth, poor mental development, high rates of infection • Eventually leads to starvation – leads to death • Caloric malnutrition • Severe vitamin and mineral deficiencies • Mental disorders, damage vital organs, failure of the senses, problems conceiving or delivering babies, and gastrointestinal distress • Unhealthy diets • Resulting from lack of healthcare and nutritional education and the lower availability and higher cost of quality foods

16. Infectious Disease • High rates of disease • Inadequate shelter or housing • Exposed to severe and dangerous weather, bacteria, and viruses • Infected with diseases carried by insects or rodents • Mosquitoes – malaria • Drought – no clean water • Homelessness – weather • Inadequate sanitation and unhygienic practices • No running water or sewage facilities • Human waste and garbage become breeding grounds for disease • Overcrowding • Airborne diseases – tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections • Shortage of Doctors • Medicine and treatment are scarce and expensive • No health insurance

17. Poverty plays major role in deaths of infants • Infants and children under 5 years • Committees were formed to record and investigated the causes of death • Malnutrition • No electricity • No access to clean water • Can’t boil water before feeding babies • Washing hands • February 25, 2008

18. Mental Illness and Drug Dependence • High rates • Most common • Depression and anxiety • Low self-esteem and feelings of worthlessness • Stressed by the uncertainty of where they will get their next meal or spend the night develop anxiety • High rates of suicide • Alcohol – legal and affordable • Common illegal drugs used also • Spread disease

19. Crime and Violence • Anger, desperation, need for money for food, shelter, and necessities • Selling/acquiring illegal drugs • Steal • End up in jail

20. High drop-out rate due to poverty • Lack of finances as main reason for students quitting university • 60% • Poor students have a high risk of dropping out and not getting the education they need • Not enough government loans etc. • February 24, 2008

21. Somalia activists: “Get more girls in school” • Worst school attendance rate in the world • One in four girls get primary education • Millennium Development Goals of gender parity and 100% enrollment of girls in primary school • It is important to the entire society • Future mothers will shape what sort of society they will have • Everything must be done to make sure that Somali girls get as good a chance at education as boys, they are truly the future of the country • “The education of girls is paramount in the fight against poverty; against infant, child and maternal mortality and national under-development,” Balslev-Olesen said • Girls take more responsibility in families than boys • March 8, 2008

22. Long Term Effects • Grow up in poverty experience lifelong problems • parents • Disadvantage in things like education • Malnourished and sick from a young age • Difficulties in marriage leading to single parents • Mindset that keeps them from getting out of poverty

23. Poverty Reduction • Free trade • Direct Aid • Improving the social environment and abilities of the poor • Millennium development goals • Development aid

24. Debates About Poverty • The causes of poverty are controversial • Right wing views • Consider that poverty results from personal choices or preferences, the breakdown of traditional values, lack of birth control, and over interference by the government. They may also look to structural factors that prevent economic growth. • Left wing views • See poverty as the result of many systemic factors unrelated to personal choices or preferences. They consider that poverty is caused by lack of opportunity, and this it is often the lack of government intervention which results in more poverty. They believe that alleviating poverty is a matter of social justice and that is the responsibility of the wealthy to help those in need • Cultural or religious reasons

25. Poverty throughout history

26. Poverty Throughout History • Ancient Egypt • Caste system • Mistreated the poor by hard labor or enslaving them • Poor Laws • Slaves • Unequal distribution of wealth and resources generated in the colonial period has become even more pronounced in the postindustrial or information age

27. Poverty History • Pre-Confederation • England’s Poor Law • The Houses of Industry • Post World War I Era • The government supported disabled soldiers and their families as well as the widows and orphans • Mothers Allowance • Old Age Security • Minimum wage legislation was introduced • 1920s and 1930s • Great depression • Unemployment • Federal cost sharing for welfare

28. Poverty History • 1930s and 1940s • Unemployment Insurance • Family Allowance (baby bonus) • 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s • The Canada and Quebec Pension Plans • Child Tax Benefit • 1980s and 1990s • Inequality in market income grew • Changes in the welfare policy

29. Poverty in countries throughout the world

30. Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq top index of weak states • Somalia, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Iraq • Four weakest states in the world • Economic, political, security, and social welfare • Weak state defined as one lacking the capacity to establish and maintain political institutions, secure the population from violent conflict and control their territories or to meet the basic needs of the population. • “Given the role that weak states can play as incubators and breeding grounds for transnational security threats, building state capacity…should be a higher priority for U.S. policy,” said the reporter • February 26, 2008

31. Poverty in Developing Countries • Severe and widespread poverty • Disease epidemics, starvation, and deaths • Poverty disproportionately affects women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities • Women have low social status; restricted in their access to education and work/income • Children have underdeveloped immune systems; also have low social status; suffer from parental neglect and abuse because they are considered no t important • Minorities experience prejudice

32. Poverty in Asia • Fishing industry, dying • Poisonous waters • Healthcare non existent for many • “we eat somehow, but it’s never enough. At least we are not starving” • No heat • 300 million in China live in poverty

33. Poverty In India • The worlds largest city • Holds millions of impoverished residents within its confines – slum of million, where as many as 18,000 people crowd a single acre • 300 square feet shared with 15 humans…and mice • “India still has the world’s largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 350-400 million are below the poverty line, 75% of them in the rural ares.”

34. Poverty in South America • Venezuela poverty rate – 50% • Poverty is measured by literacy, infant mortality and life expectancy, rather than, or in addition to, purchasing power.

35. Poverty In Africa • More than 40% can’t obtain sufficient food • Declining soil fertility, land degradation and AIDS have led to a 23% decrease in food production per capita, despite dramatic population increase • Fertilizers coast African farmers 2-6 times more than the world market price • 50% + suffer from cholera, infant diarrhea and other water related diseases • A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds – more than one million child deaths per year • More than half of all children under age five are underweight

36. Zambia • 86% below poverty line • Independence in 1964 • Declining copper prices and a prolonged drought hurt the economy in the 1980s and 1990s • Government problems – elections, etc. • New president launched an anticorruption task force in 2002, but nothing has happened • Re-elected in 2006 –fair elections

37. Poverty in Zambia • Once classified as a middle income country • Three decades of economic decline and neglect of infrastructure -- extremely poor • Three out of four live in poverty • more than half are extremely poor and unable to meet nutritional needs • Households headed by women • Many members of the family are sick • Life expectancy is less than 38 years • Farms don’t have adequate labor b/c of disease

38. Poverty in Zambia • Health and education • Major discrepancies between men and women • Women discriminated against • Although they are responsible for food production and other income activities • Men travel to urban areas in search of employment

39. Why are they poor in Zambia? • Historical • Social • Geographical isolation • Limits access to services, markets, technical knowledge, and productive assets • Undergoing a period of transition • State led to market based economy • Agriculture has been neglected by the government for several decades • Led to cattle diseases • Lack of services • Drought and other weather related issues

40. The Voices Of Zambia Lack of access to reliable and up-to-date market price information is a serious problem for smallholder farmers across Africa. Without this information, they are vulnerable to unscrupulous traders giving them prices at below-market rates. Furthermore, they are reluctant to diversify into different cash crops for fear of not finding a profitable market for their output.

41. Poverty In America • Age • Children 0-17 – highest group • 1998, 18.9% (13.5 million) • Adults 18-64 and seniors over 65 over • 10.5% • Race • Blacks • 26.1% • Hispanics • 25.6% • Asians and Pacific Islanders • 12.5% • Whites • 8.2%

42. Poverty In America • Family Consumption • Female headed household with children and no husband • 29.9% • Married Couples • 5.3% • Region • Western states suffered the most – 14.0% • Southern states – 13.7%

43. A solution to poverty?

44. The Solution? • Dr. Donald Kaberuka: “Alone, money cannot solve Africa’s development problems. Proof, if any was needed, is the fact that many of Africa’s natural resource rich countries score very low on human development indicators.” • William Easterly: felt the same…”after fifty years of trying and $600 billion worth of aid-giving, with close to zero rise in living standards in Africa, I can make the case for ‘no’ pretty decisively. Aid advocates talk about cheap solutions like the 10 cent oral rehydration salts that would save a baby from dying from diarrheal diseases, the 12 cent malaria medicine that saves someone dying from malaria, or the $5 bed nets that keep them from getting malaria in the first place. Yet despite the aid money flowing, two million babies still died from diarrheal diseases last year, more than a million still died from malaria, and most potential malaria victims are still not sleeping under bed nets. Clearly, money alone does not solve problems.”

45. Africa: Vast potential amid aching poverty • Naidoo sees a glimpse of hope • Alternative sources of energy • Easier to develop and implement new technologies from scratch in Africa • 900 million Africans can be helped • Windmills are low cost and a good power solution • Naidoo sees many opportunities and among them health and debt • February 24, 2008

46. Crocs taking a bite out of world poverty • Old crocs are getting a second life • Giving many needy people around the world, their first pair of shoes • SolesUnited • Ask for donations of worn out shoes to be recycled • Started about a year ago • February 6, 2008

47. ONE • United as one to help make poverty history • 2.4 million people • All 50 states • Over 100 of America’s non-profit organizations • Raising public awareness • Ask our leaders to do more to fight issues • ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs could transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation • Anyone can join

48. Making Poverty History • Organization the protests around the world • What they want • Trade debt aid • The gap between the world’s rich and poor has never been wider • Malnutrition, AIDS, conflict, and illiteracy are a daily reality for millions • Unjust global trade system • A debt burden so great it suffocates any chance of recovery and insufficient and ineffective aid • Those with power • In 2001 the governments of the eight wealthiest nations said that they were going to do something about it – they promised to cut poverty in half by 2015 • Four years later, in 2005, the world was failing dismally to reach those targets and still was in 2007 • They want their commitments to be fulfilled • THEY STILL HAVE THE POWER AND WE CAN STILL MAKE THEM USE IT!