Poverty

By: Fatoumata Ndiaye

Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money. Poverty is either measured as either absolute or relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to being unable to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, helath care, education, clothing and shelter. According to the United Nations, 1 billion people, about one-fifth of the world's population live in absolute poverty. Relative poverty refers to lacking a usual or social acceptale level of resources or income as compared with others within a society or country. The World Bank's "Voices of the Poor", based on research with over 20,000 poor people in 23 countries, identifies a range of factors which poor people identify as part of poverty. These include: physical limitations, gender relationships, problems in social relationships, lack of security, abuse by those in power, etc. There are numerous characteristics related to poverty such as: hunger, education, housing etc. and differ around the world.

The people living in poverty suffer from hunger or even starvation. The rising in the cost of living make poor people less able to afford food. Poor people spend a greater proportion of their budgets on food than richer people. Malnutrition also is a growing problem because many of the people in poverty cannot find or afford food. The world health organization estimates that about eight hundred million people in the world are malnourished, which leads to disease. Hunger suppress the mental and physical development of children and leads to disease and death.

Research have found that there is a high risk of educational underachievement for children who are from low income housing circomtances. This often is a process that begins in primary schools. In the US educational system, these children are at a higher risk than other children for holding in their grade, special placements during the school's hours and even not completing their high school education. There are indeed many explanations for why students tend to drop out of school. For children with low resources, the risk factors are similar to excuses such as juvenule delinquincy rates, higher level of teenager pregnancy. Poverty often drastically affects children's success in school. Poverty is also the risk of homelessness. It is obvious that if you cannot afford food to eat, you cannot afford housing.

In sum, poverty has many causes. It is a major global problem that affects the billions who are living in poverty, but also affects all people in one way or another. In my point of view, poverty can be reduced by: providing basic needs, controlling overpopulation, increasing personal income(such as income grants, financial services)etc.