Poverty: Causes/Effects

Nearly 3,000,000,000 people across the world (that's about half of the world's population) live on less than two dollars per day. About 790,000,000 people in developing countries across the world are chronically undernourished due to poverty. 11,000,000 children under the age of five die each year because of poverty. The United Nations has calculated that the cost of basic needs such as food, education, drinking water, and healthcare for the population of the whole world could be compensated for by just 4% of the accumulated wealth of 225 of the world's richest people. Yet, billions of people are left in poverty each year. How can this be? How could the poor get this poor, and in such vast numbers? There are undoubtedly several reasons to this dilemma, yet the problem seems to only worsen. Although there are numerous causes of why so much poverty exists throughout the world today, a few major causes can be labeled as: lack of education, limited economic choices for the impoverished, and inadequate government infrastructure.

A lack of economic opportunities is one major cause of why so many people are left in poverty, especially in countries which are poor themselves. In many countries where a large percentage of the population is impoverished, capital is a scarcity. People have little or no money to start or maintain a business and are forced to take low paying jobs to survive. Unlike some other countries where people can take out loans, people in poorer countries are left on their own to try to save enough money. This makes it almost impossible to increase their income and break out of poverty. Because of this, families are unable to break out of poverty for years or even generations.

Although education is sometimes taken for granted in the United States, in many countries across the world education is not an option. In some cases, governments cannot afford to build schools because of insufficient funds. However, even when local education is provided, children are forced to help out at home or go get a job in order to help support the family. In some cases where children do go to school, they are unable to make the most of their education because of outside distractions, poor environment (such as unsanitary schools or schools in dangerous areas). Education allows for children to gain skills necessary to gain more lucrative jobs. Without proper education, people are left with low paying jobs and become unable to help lift their family out of poverty.

Poor government infrastructure is a major setback to countries all around the world. Governments in many of these countries are often unstable or corrupt. An unsanitary environment, poor school or banking systems, and a lack of financial or social welfare are examples of poor government infrastructure. This can lead to poverty in several ways. In unsanitary environments, people are more prone to disease and can often get sick in vast numbers. With poor healthcare in many countries, many of these diseases are not treated and thousands of people die each day. Getting sick forces many people to stay at home instead of work or reduces their productivity at work greatly which leads to them making less money. For example, 1.4 million children die each year from a lack of safe drinking water and poor sanitation (according to UNICEF). These children are not even given a chance to rise up out of poverty