I'm not going to go on about poverty in the Western world too much, I'm talking about real poverty. Poverty in the developing nations of the world. I find it totally ludicrous that poverty should exist in the at all in the 21st Century. Let's start with a few facts;
Half the world (nearly 3 billion people) survive on less than $2 a day. *1
The wealth of the three richest people in the world combined is more than the GDP of the 48 poorest countries. *1
As we entered the 21st Century there was nearly a billion people who couldn't sign their name or read a book. *2
Less than one percent of the total amount spent on weapons could be used to put every child into school. *3
A billion children live in poverty (that's a staggering 1 in 2 children in the world), 640 million have no adequate shelter, 400 million are unable to access safe water, 270 million have no access to health services*4
10.6 million died before the age of five *5
And all the while the First World gets richer on the back of those in abject poverty. Everywhere we look we see that the disparity between the rich and the poor is on the rise - even in the wealthiest of Nations.
When looking at poverty on a global scale there are many issues involved, it is not sufficient to (or even correct) to surmise that those in poverty are there due to their own bad management. The conclusion could be reached that the poor are poor quite simply because the rich are rich and therefore have the power to make trade agreements that are more in favour of their interests than theose of the poorer Nations.
A major cause of Third World poverty has been the conditions imposed on the loans of given to the developing Nations by the IMF and the World Bank. Conditions such as cutting social expenditure (health, education, etc.) and opening up their economies in such a way as to offer cheap resources, lower wages and reduced standards to both corporations and richer Nations. These actions aea part of what is known as globalisation and have increased poverty and dependencyt for a lot of people, in addition to maintaining unequal trade rules in favour of rich Nations.
This is by no means the only factor involved in furthering poverty, there is also the part played by unscupulous political leaders that continue to build and maintain lavish palaces and lifestyles to the detriment of the people they 'govern'.
As we look around the world at poverty we also find hunger, people are not hungry because of 'over-population' (a common misconception) or a lack of available food but because they are too poor to buy the food. If the underlying causes of poverty are not addressed then no amount in the increase of food production or of availablility will help as the poor will still be unable to purchase food.
What need to be done is to write-off as much debt fro mthe Third World as there is (a process already begun by the G8 Nations) and make any aid available tied to improvements in both health and education, assist farmers to grow and sell their own food and cease the systematic raping of Third World countries by large, unaccountable non-democratic corporations.
The Third World, however, will always be in poverty because it is not in the interests of rich Nations or large corporations to bring them out of it whilst there are resources there cheap enough for them to exploit, whether it be labour or materials.
Some more facts to end the article on;
85% of the worlds water is used by 12% of it's population - this 12% do not live in the Third World*6
Global Priorities spending in 1998 in $US billion
Basic Education for everone in the world..............................6
Cosmetics in the US...........................................................8
Water and Sanitation for everyone in the world.....................9
Ice Cream in Europe..........................................................11
Reproductive Health for all women in the world.....................12
Perfumes in Europe and the US...........................................12
Basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world..............13
Pet foods in Europe and the US...........................................17
Business Entertainment in Japan.........................................35
Cigarettes in Europe..........................................................50
Alcoholic Drinks in Europe..................................................105
Narcotics Drugs in the world...............................................400
Military Spending in the world.............................................780 *7
I dont pretend to know all the answers but hopefully I've outlined some of the causes and given food for thought. All I want to do now is thank you for reading...thanks.
SOURCES:
*1 The Politics of Hunger - Ignacio Ramonet Le Monde diplomatique Nov 1998
*2 The State of the Worlds Children - UNICEF 1999
*3 State of the World - Issue 287 (Feb 1997) New Internationalist
*4 The Reality of Aid 2000 - Earthscan Publications 2000, page 10
*5 State of the Worlds Children - UNICEF 2005
*6 Water as Commodity - The Wrong Prescription, Maude Barlow
*7 Consumerism, Volunteer Now! (not dated)
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