Poverty Causes and Effects
94
Several great books to check out
 | Amazon Price: $14.35 List Price: $25.00 |
 | Amazon Price: $17.98 List Price: $27.99 |
Causes of Poverty
Imagine searching through heaping piles of refuse at landfills, looking for anything that could seem partly edible, to satisfy an unending hunger. Many people around the world face this situation every day of their lives. What could have caused a situation like this to occur? The education and skill level, health or handicap status, and discrimination play a vital role in poverty.
A major factor determining whether someone will end up living in poverty, education or skill level can make or break an income. Education plays a vital role in acquiring jobs, learning new skills, and bringing home necessities and comforts of life. A person who doesn’t receive an education has a very small chance of making much money and acquiring skills that would bring home a desirable income. Many who do not have an education bring their family into a cycle of poverty, where their posterity doesn’t necessarily have the income to go to college or even don’t have a desire to acquire a high school diploma. A survey from www.worldwidelearn.com reveals that the average income with a high school education equals about $40,000 while dropouts can expect to receive $24,000 per year, $16,000 less. Education does not necessarily determine whether someone will make it or break it, but health statuses and handicaps can also play an important role.
Health handicaps and diseases bring a lot of disaster not only to families who seem to scrape by every month, but can also decimate families whose incomes already have fallen short of what it takes to purchase and maintain the necessities of life. From acquiring diabetes to getting HIV, health attributes and diseases make working almost impossible at some points. For example, a worker who has an injury that requires a wheelchair for movement may find obtaining a job, which could be performed not standing up, very difficult. The mental and emotional damage of trying to obtain a job while needing a wheelchair or other health conditions can overwhelm a worker. Battles not only occur physically and emotionally but also commonly occur through discrimination.
It may seem that racism and discrimination doesn’t exist anymore in the US, with the election of an African American as president, but discrimination still harbors here. To see discrimination first hand, just travel south a few hundred miles where pickup trucks still have the Confederate flag painted on their cabs and many houses have a Confederate flag flying, which a minority in the area views as racist. Discrimination has played a huge role in shaping economies and creating poverty; women, for instance, still reflect a small portion of engineering and higher income job percentages. A report from http://www.yemenpost.net/23/Reports/20081.htm says that women have a 600 percent higher unemployment rate and receive, at average, 13 percent less money then men do while having the same occupations and getting the same work done. Discrimination still affects the poverty rate and unemployment.
Numerous causes exist that affect poverty in the world, but most sources agree that lack of education, poor health, and discrimination play a key role in causing poverty. Those causes can have an immense impact on countries, continents, and the whole Earth. The education and skill level, health or handicap status, and discrimination play a vital role in poverty. As scholars and professors try to concoct a remedy to heal unemployment and poverty, maybe the most detrimental pieces of the puzzle involve those three elements.
vote upvote downshareprintflag
- Useful (14)
- Funny (5)
- Awesome (3)
- Beautiful (5)
- Interesting (9)
CommentsLoading...
Thank you Barbara
An issue that needs to be addressed but is often swept under the rug or glossed over. It is heartbreaking to know and see that some people still live in hunger and in fear even in our developed society. It is disappointing to see that discrimination is still rife - but again, swept under the rug or phrased in a more politically correct manner. As a recruiter, I witness it first hand more often than I'd like to. Great hub.
Thank you notorious_HIA for your well-informed comment. I can't imagine how hard it would be to witness so many lives that suffer, firsthand. I recently visited Lansing Michigan and was very surprised about the amount of people in need of assistance and a few very shyly approached others for help.
Thank you for your concern. I too feel for those that do not have, but realize that you cannot save the whole world with a website or a donation or a charity event. Look after you and yours and, if there's time, help to pick up one man, woman, or child at a time. Every breath counts, especially yours.
That was a beautiful comment, Manmoth. A friend of mine says a similar point, that I shouldn't get overfocused on saving the world but help others by the little things as well, like smiling and being friends with others. Thank you again for that great comment The Manmoth
It's not as simple as just a lack of education. Individuals living in poverty may not be able to qualify for loans, or may not be able to effectively handle a courseload of 5 classes, and work a part-time job to complement their $30,000 in student loans over four years. when a student only recieves about $9,000 a year in student loans, then they can barely survive.
Furthermore, many High-schoolers are forced to drop-out of school because in families that are already living in poverty, a young school-aged individual might be expected to contribute to the household income.
This is very true, Jane Taxpayer. That actually reminds me a lot of the situation in China for many children. Some companies make offers with families to educate their children while giving them jobs and paying the parents for their child's work-and no education takes place but the parents can't afford to have the child come home even if they knew about the real situation.
I guess I was a bit off from what you were saying but you are very correct about the cycle that you brought up. Thank you for your input, Jane!
Poverty cannot always be associated with the lack of material or comfort but a lack of education (the main driver of poverty). A gradual process of acquiring by which society deliberately transmits knowledge, values or skill obtained or developed from generation to another is a crucial ingredient for a person’s professional, cultural and environmental development.
I would say that if you do not have access to the following: enough food, clean water and effective sewer, basic health, then your chances of ever escaping poverty are slim, simply because it is so hard to do anything, much less think straight, when you haven't eaten for a day or two, or you have diarrhea from dirty water -- this is the situation of literally billions of people in the world, right now, as I write. These people need these three basics; without them a person simply cannot function...
I have some hubs on poverty too if you are interested...
thanks for Identifying the causes
Thoughtful compassionate hub.enjoyed it.
The causes of poverty are so complex, it's simply hard to make an attempt to articulate them (all). The causes include everything from institutional biases and poor education, to bad up-bringing and bad decision-making. As a single, childless, college-educated, tea-toatling, unemployed African-American, I know all-too well that sometimes, you can do everything right and still fall victim to poverty. All we can do is make the best decisions that we are able and hope for the best.
I am so sick of hearing people say that lack of education is a cause of poverty. If we all go to college then who will sweep the floors in your office? Who will refine and transport your fuel? Who will harvest, haul and stock your groceries?
The fact is that our society spits on those who work hard but lack a college degree. They are devalued and deemed worthless. Even stats have shown that college graduates are happier and healthier. Gee, I wonder why? Perhaps because they are not dumped on by society? What a sick world.
awan mt effect na
poverty is a curse.
is pverty can be cure??how it be???
roastedpinebark
''Education plays a vital role in acquiring jobs, learning new skills, and bringing home necessities and comforts of life. A person who doesn’t receive an education has a very small chance of making much money''
WHY are students allowed to drop out of school if an education is a way out of poverty. Is it the responsibility of government to ensure every one should have an education or have a job. Keeping citizens ,young and old on welfare is not a solution. How many of the so called uneducated would the government give work to? The public school systems are paid for by taxpayers. Apparently the taxpayers are not getting their hard earned moneys worth. What is the solution??
A voucher system, a complete government take over using federal funding instead of local funding? Pay teachers the same money, raises based on experiences or production?
Surely educators can help arrive at a solution.
Good article. It's sad that some people don't take advantage of the early free education they get.
I hear your cries of pain. I hear that college grads are over-rated and you, Mark?, who have no post high school education are spit upon. I was a blue collar worker for years and made more than my educated friends.Jane, I hear that racism is still a major cause of poverty in america, but, I'm sorry, that dog don't hunt. If you live in poverty you qualify for free government grants to continue your education, all you have to do is pursue it; no, there will be no social worker knocking at your door and holding your hand to make certain that your needs are met. You are an adult, do it yourself, it is available but you will have to get off of the couch to do it. Stop looking for excuses and look instead at the pink elephant in the room; Parents, who lack education themselves and do not work, who get a check each month for each child, are setting the example for those same children who are "dropping out of school to help their family survive"? Sorry. I'm a teacher. They tell me why they are going to drop out of school, and it includes none of the above. They are proud of relatives in jail. They are proud of not having to get a job. They are proud of the fact that their parents don't have to work, ( and not because they are disabled), to make "bank". They have adjusted to being paid for failure, for being expelled, for not being able to read. Get the picture? If one parent lost 10% of their welfare money because their child was a problem at school, the behavior would stop. Maybe the parent would set a better example or discipline the child or most importantly, help the child with their school work and take an active role as a parent in their childs developement. I'm not venting, I'm losing faith in America and I'm really disgusted with the whining and the excuses that are killing our children and their future.
I was expecting more out of it. - Kinda disappointed.
You treated part of the problem nicely. Congrats. I'm placing a link on my hub my hub "How the rich are killing the poor" and my lens "What causes poverty in developing countries".
you didn;;;;
truthfuly poverty is caused by plitical instability. there can be a fund for grants bt the mobility of the grants is unjust. in a sense that it benefits 2% of the people in need of it. unemployement is also the main cause, bt it has been written too many times that i had to bring up another challenge to poverty.
I want to ask about the effect of the poverty to the country ??? Who can help me??? Thanks so much.
its not just discrimination , unemployment , education that affeects poverty
landlessness
size of families
child labour
helplessness
all these affects
why didn't poverty extint
poverty should
not warrey to you have to poor in the furture isave you
lack of skilled labour
size of population
unemployment
low starndad of living
Im glad to see that there are others that concern about this major issue.Please visit our facebook page and become part of the group UMEED
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/303231426381842/
UMEED is a group of MBA students working together to fight world's poverty through an innovative business idea.
Being part of this group, motivates us to move forward in this quest.
We thank you in advance for your valuable inputs, ideas and suggestions to make this happen....
poverty is a chutar
Poverty is an awful thing in this world many many many kids and adults die every minute of each day because of this help stop poverty today:)
this website does NOT help ! thanks for NOTHING
that sad
If you put the causes and effects in a table you will help the student to deduce the information easier thank you
Ramboruiz you are right but what i want to say is the poverty can also be caused by the bad behaviour of people like their lazness and even the corruption in the leaders i-e the aids can be given for poor then because of the bad leaders they put them in their pockets.
Good convesation,now we need to stand n do something about this impidement,doing little things is bttr than doing none
If you differeciate the effect from the causes,it will help studen.Thank Yuo.
wat cn b dne 2 reduce poverty
Barbara Yurkoski 2 years ago
Thoughtful article about a complex issue that is so often reduced to individual responsibility.