World issues: Poverty

The past, present and future of the world will be filled

with issues forever; issues like poverty, discrimination and
healthy living will affect every single person in the world. The
largest world issue for many generations has been world
poverty. World poverty affects over 80% of humanity today,
over 3 billion people live off of less than 1.50$ per day all
over the world. Most people think that poverty might only
affect few homeless people in their community and people of
3rd world countries, such as Africa, but the truth is, poverty
affects many people in many different communities and
places.
Children are growing up in poverty and not having
schooling, food or shelter, and the chance to live a healthy
lifestyle. This affects them tremendously. Very few children
can make it out of poverty and a staggering 22 000 children
die per day from reasons related to poverty. How can people
get out of poverty? Well, some would suggest they get a job
to provide for themselves, but in many 3rd world countries a
job only pays up to 2$ an hour. This proves why the poorest
40 percent of the worlds population accounts for 5 percent of
global income; this is an astonishing number considering how
many big companies, such as Nike factories, barely pay their
workers enough to survive, as well as working them to the
bone. These big companies will go to the extreme just to
make a little bit more profit which very unethical.
Poverty affects people all over the world, for example, in
places like Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and even the United
States of America. Zimbabwe and Afghanistans GDP (gross
domestic product) per Capita is under $956 which is a very
low number compared to more developed countries. The
United States does not have very low numbers per capita

because of the large population, but the poorest people in

America are as poor as any 3rd world country, the only
difference being there are fewer than less developed
countries.
To really understand poverty today you have to think
about the history of poverty and where it began. Poverty has
dated back for hundreds of years and existed in the 1770s, as
evidenced in the book "The Wealth of Nations," written by
Adam Smith in 1776. Smith noted income inequalities among
citizens in the United States. However, economic prosperity
differed among nations in addition to citizens of the U.S.
Some nations advanced technologically and gained wealth
quickly, while others did not advance as fast and struggled to
provide citizens with basic needs. So, poverty has been
around for over 230 years and continues to affect more and
more people every day.
Poverty is happening because of a few reasons. The cost
of living anywhere is very expensive causing people to have
to choose between two necessities, either a bed or a meal.
Working people arent getting paid minimum wage in many
countries and even children arent getting paid for working.
This leads to families being forced to live in poverty. One
reason poverty still continues to be a global issue is, people
who are wealthy turn a blind eye to anyone who is struggling
to make ends meet. To end world poverty, the rich must work
to help people in poverty by creating laws and restrictions on
the wages people are paid and the conditions they work in.
The Declaration of human rights was created on
December 16th, 1948. It was a declaration that guaranteed
the right to live free and peaceful as a human being; you
couldnt be judged or treated wrong for any reason. The
declaration was created after the Second World War because
of the many conflicts between people and the rights that

were violated during that time. The Declaration was a long

time coming, but has been in use for over 65 years now. Still
today people arent guaranteed the rights that are written in
the declaration, which is what society has to fight for. Poverty
is a worldwide disaster that could be prevented if the
declaration of Human rights was taken more seriously. Some
Articles that could help prevent Poverty are Article 1 all
Human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
They are endowed with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in the spirit of brotherhood. Well to
begin, most people are born into Poverty, which means they
arent technically born free and arent given the resources to
be happy and healthy. Most of the worlds problems begin
with poverty; its like the start of a circle. You are born poor
so you have to make money, even as a child, which can get
you into trouble, especially in third world countries. Article
26(1) states Everyone has the right to education. Education
shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental
stages. This Article has never been serious as children all
over the world are denied an education because of low
paying jobs and being in extreme poverty makes them
unavailable to attend school and learn valuable skills to pull
themselves out of poverty.
Some people may think that because Canada may not
be a poor country, they do not do anything to stop poverty.
Even though many Canadians will not face poverty first hand,
they still help a small amount in stopping world poverty, but,
not enough. Canada sits in 14th out of 23 of countries
providing the most financial aid for 3rd world countries. This
low number could be due to the limited amount of donating
the citizens of Canada do to end poverty. The inter council of
Canada (ICN) held a vote to get a better understanding from
Canadians and how much knowledge they have on world
poverty. 75% of Canadians believe that reducing global

poverty will help to fulfill human rights obligations, while only

56% of US residents and 55% of UK residents believe the
same, which were pretty promising numbers for the future.
One-third of Canadians rank global poverty among the 1st,
2nd or 3rd most concerning issues to them globally. This is
evidence Canadians are making a difference in the extreme
poverty all around the world and are aware that it is a global
issue.
Internationally, we fight poverty through a company
called Oxfam International; they have over 90 countries
donating and helping the world stop extreme poverty. Oxfam
is the first company to donate when disaster strikes a country
in the form of weather, war or famine. They meet every year
with the 90 participants to speak about resolving the major
world problems such as war, education and poverty.
Companies like Oxfam show the hope people can have that
there is people trying to make a positive change that not only
affects their town but the whole world! Oxfams efforts have
been helpful in diminishing world poverty, but it is a problem
not only one company can handle. The global community
must come together as one to work towards an end goal of
eradicating poverty for everyone.
The best response to ending poverty is for countries and
communities to band together and focus on the main goal.
Greed is a problem that has overtaken the world right now
and large companies are putting money ahead of lives.
Creating restrictions to the lengths governments and
businesses will go to accumulate money while dehumanizing
the people will be a huge step to ending world poverty.
Another step, will be exposure on the global scale.
People living in wealthy countries do not realize the amount
poverty affects people in their country and other surrounding
countries. Providing an outlet for people to make a difference

with world poverty and providing opportunities for people to

see firsthand the hardships poverty brings will move people
to want to make a change and help end the worlds poverty
crisis.
If world poverty is not addressed and ended in a timely
matter, millions of people will continue to die and live
inhumane lives. Right now, 21,000 people die each day
because of hunger related reasons and the number is only
growing. However, poverty does not only affect the people
who live without the basic needs, it affects everyone. Poverty
brings the exposure to diseases and infection that can easily
be brought to developed communities and people that are
not living in poverty. Furthermore, if this crisis is not
addressed, it could bring conflict and rebellion between the
wealthy and the poor. Poverty stricken districts will eventually
become tired of nothing changing and rebel against the
government's to try to create any kind of change. These
conflicts could cause civil wars and even more deaths.
Overall, if poverty is not dealt with soon, the world will have
great conflicts.
An example of a global ambassador that has fought to
end world hunger and poverty is Angelina Jolie. Angelina and
husband Brad Pitt have created the Jolie-Pitt foundation,
thats main cause is the eradication of extreme poverty and
has recently donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders.
Jolie is also a support of 29 major charities and foundations
and actively donates to charities involving poverty. Jolie has
been recognized many times for her work and generosity with
this cause. She is one of many global citizens that has set an
exemplary example for creating change in the world.
Below is a youtube clip that you should take 5 minutes
out of your day to view. This is the top 25 global statistics
that may make you cry see below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwIEZDMDBo4

Work Cited
Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
"Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global Issues. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
"UNICEF - SOWC05." UNICEF - SOWC05. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
"Angelina Jolie: Charity Work & Causes." Look to the Stars.
Web. 22 Mar. 2016.

"25 Sobering Statistics On Global Poverty That Might Upset

You." YouTube. YouTube. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
"Who We Are." Who We Are, Oxfam. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.
"Reduce Global Poverty | Make Poverty History." Reduce
Global Poverty | Make Poverty History. Web. 22 Mar. 2016.