Poverty

Poverty

There is no right or wrong definition for poverty, poverty means the state of not having enough money to take care of basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing.

There are two types of poverty the first is Absolute poverty. Absolute poverty is found mostly in the poorest countries of the world. The poorest countries of the world are often called the less economically developed countries (LEDCs) it includes many countries in Africa such as the Congo, Mali and Kenya and Asia such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Afghanistan. People who live in this type of poverty do not have enough money to meet their most basic needs, such as food and shelter.

The other type of poverty is called relative poverty. Relative poverty is found in more wealthy countries including the USA and Britain, there are people who live in relative poverty, which means they have much less wealth than many other people living in there society. The people living in this type of poverty may have poor housing/facilities and may not have much money for holydays or to buy a car.

Poverty is a huge problem. For instance, four million babies die each year in the developing world just for not having things we take for granted such as food and water. Secondly (estimated) every year 30,000 children die as a consequence to absolute poverty. Thirdly over 800 million people do not have enough to eat.

Fourthly over 1,100 million people will not have access to safe drinking water.

Finally nearly half the primary-age children in the LEDCs are not able to attend school.

Rich countries such as the UK and America are able to spend more money on their people than poor countries such as Kenya, Bangladesh and Brazil.

For instance, the USA has $37,562 to spend on its population per person when Kenya has $1037 to spend on its population.

Many things can cause poverty including wars, natural disasters and debt.

Wars can cause poverty because they destroy homes, crops, schools, hospitals and factory's, causing even more poverty.

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and droughts can cause poverty because an earthquake or flood can wipe