Facts About Poverty

Poverty is a curse that not only the underdeveloped, but also the developed nations of the world experience at a certain level. A survey by the World Bank Development Indicators shows that more than three billion people over the world live on only $2.50 a day and with the prices of commodities increasing with each passing day, their daily plight is hard to even envisage! Poverty may be described as the acute lack of basic necessities like food, water and shelter, due to lack of money. People stricken with poverty do not have the means to fulfill the basic needs of nutrition, water and house, leave alone education. Being educated is a far cry for such people. However, that does not mean they do not wish to study. It is because of their inability to afford education. And it is they who die largely unnoticed. Such are the far reaching effects of poverty. A report submitted by the UNICEF says that 1.7 billion people in the world are the victim of poverty. Listed below are some grisly facts about poverty around the world:

World Poverty Facts

• Children are the most vulnerable victims of poverty. Above a quarter of children below five-year old, living in the remote villages of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, die due to malnutrition, which is a prime effect of poverty.

• Among children, it is the females who suffer the most because of poverty. Thirty percent of poor girls around the world are married off at an early age, thus leading to further physically weak children and also several illnesses like AIDS.

• A survey shows that 815 million people in the world in the year 2002 remained hungry due to lack of basic nutrition. The condition has not improved much even today. The hungry population is mostly seen in South Asia and Africa.

• Improper nutrition and improper lifestyles lead to grave illnesses. While HIV/AIDS has become rampant, more than 400 million cases of malaria have been detected over the past year. 1 million people among the victims lost their lives, 90 percent of the deaths occurring in Africa alone.

• More than 1 billion people living in developing nations do not have access to even drinking water; sanitation is something that is a far cry.

• 1 billion children across the world among a total of 2.2 billion children are victims of poverty. This means that every one child out of two is living in poverty!

• 640 million children residing in developing countries, out of the total of 1.9 billion, do not live in proper houses. This means that 1 in every three children are victims of poverty in developing regions.

• The United Nations says that close to 25,000 people die each day as a result of lack of food or hunger related illnesses. And that is why it is also said that if a government can eradicate hunger, eradicating poverty will not be far away.

• Surprisingly, even countries which are economically sound have victims of poverty. For example, China has been going up the economic ladder, but little do people know that the villagers in China are living in poverty.

• There were 925 million malnourished people in the world in 2010, an increase of 80 million since 1990, despite the fact that the world already produces enough food to feed everyone.

• Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.

• Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was enough to put every child into school by the year 2000. Sadly, it remained simply as an initiative.

• If you can believe this - the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the 41 heavily indebted poor countries is less than the combined wealth of the world's 7 richest people!

• While the poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income, the richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income

• According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. What’s worse, they live far off in the poorest of poor villages in the world and their death is not even reported.

Poverty has been and is still one of the chief problems that the countries across the world are facing. With millions of people losing their lives to poverty, we only hope that the governing bodies of the world take notice of their shortcomings and resolve the issue at the earliest. Besdies the goverment agencies, we also need to be more senstive towards this serious issue and these thoughtful words on poverty will definitely help.