Poverty refers to the condition of not having the means to afford basic human ne

eds such as clean water, nutrition, health care,education, clothing and shelter.
This is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution. Relative poverty i
s the condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a so
ciety or country, or compared to worldwide averages.
Before the industrial revolution, poverty had mostly been the norm. Poverty redu
ction has historically been a result of economic growth as increased levels of p
roduction, such as modern industrial technology, made more wealth available for
those who were otherwise too poor to afford them.Also, investments in modernizin
g agriculture and increasing yields is considered the core of the antipoverty ef
fort, given three-quarters of the world's poor are rural farmers. Today, continu
ed economic development is constrained by the lack of economic freedoms. Economi
c liberalization includes extending property rights, especially to land, to the
poor, and making financial services, notably savings, accessible. Inefficient in
stitutions, corruption and political instability can also discourage investment.
Aid and government support in health, education and infrastructure helps growth
by increasing human and physical capital.[
Poverty is the state for the majority of the world’s people and nations. Why is
this? Is it enough to blame poor people for their own predicament? Have they bee
n lazy, made poor decisions, and been solely responsible for their plight? What
about their governments? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successfu
l development? Such causes of poverty and inequality are no doubt real. But deep
er and more global causes of poverty are often less discussed.
Behind the increasing interconnectedness promised by globalization are global de
cisions, policies, and practices. These are typically influenced, driven, or for
mulated by the rich and powerful. These can be leaders of rich countries or othe
r global actors such as multinational corporations, institutions, and influentia
l people.
In the face of such enormous external influence, the governments of poor nations
and their people are often powerless. As a result, in the global context, a few
get wealthy while the majority struggle.
Poverty is a major reason for the health problems of our people.
Most of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality are associated with factor
s that could be attributed to poverty – illiteracy, unfounded health beliefs, ha
rmful practices, inadequate nutrition, poor environmental sanitation, inadequate
source of potable water supply, congested housing units, limited access to basi
c health services, and inability to make decisions.
Because of poverty, millions of children around the world are exposed and affect
ed by multiple diseases, some of which are life-threatening.
These next few articles and sections explore various poverty issues in more dept
h:
13 articles on “Causes of Poverty” and 4 related issues:
Poverty Facts and Stats
Most of humanity lives on just a few dollars a day. Whether you live in the weal
thiest nations in the world or the poorest, you will see high levels of inequali
ty.
The poorest people will also have less access to health, education and other ser
vices. Problems of hunger, malnutrition and disease afflict the poorest in socie
ty. The poorest are also typically marginalized from society and have little rep
resentation or voice in public and political debates, making it even harder to e
scape poverty.
By contrast, the wealthier you are, the more likely you are to benefit from econ
omic or political policies. The amount the world spends on military, financial b
ailouts and other areas that benefit the wealthy, compared to the amount spent t
o address the daily crisis of poverty and related problems are often staggering.
Some facts and figures on poverty presented in this page are eye-openers, to say
 the least.
Read “Poverty Facts and Stats” to learn more.
Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty
Cutbacks in health, education and other vital social services around the world h
ave resulted from structural adjustment policies prescribed by the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank as conditions for loans and repayment. I
n addition, developing nation governments are required to open their economies t
o compete with each other and with more powerful and established industrialized
nations. To attract investment, poor countries enter a spiraling race to the bot
tom to see who can provide lower standards, reduced wages and cheaper resources.
This has increased poverty and inequality for most people. It also forms a back
bone to what we today call globalization. As a result, it maintains the historic
unequal rules of trade.
Read “Structural Adjustment—a Major Cause of Poverty” to learn more.
Poverty Around The World
Around the world, in rich or poor nations, poverty has always been present.
In most nations today, inequality—the gap between the rich and the poor—is quite
high and often widening.
The causes are numerous, including a lack of individual responsibility, bad gove
rnment policy, exploitation by people and businesses with power and influence, o
r some combination of these and other factors.
Many feel that high levels of inequality will affect social cohesion and lead to
problems such as increasing crime and violence.
Inequality is often a measure of relative poverty. Absolute poverty, however, is
also a concern. World Bank figures for world poverty reveals a higher number of
people live in poverty than previously thought.
For example, the new poverty line is defined as living on the equivalent of $1.2
5 a day. With that measure based on latest data available (2005), 1.4 billion pe
ople live on or below that line.
Furthermore, almost half the world—over three billion people—live on less than $
2.50 a day and at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day: