By Saad Ali Hamza
Poverty and Its Impact
Lack of resources and not able to access basic necessities of life is called poverty. It can be simply understood as a lack of income or resources to stop you from having a living condition that is basic. Poverty is living on less than 60% of the median income, looking at this around thirteen million people in UK is poor and 3.5 million children are poor or suffering from some sort of deprivation. The issue of poverty is highlighting in society with emerging inflation and high demand. Mollie Orshanky, an American economist, stated her definition of poor which describes the poor as the one who is deprived of those facilities that are taken for granted by others. This is the main economic problem which is faced by many nations in the world.
Top Causes of Global Poverty
There are many other various reasons contributing to the high rate of poverty such as average family income, fall of family income due to any kind of economic suffering. The Covid-19 is the latest example which has pushed many people below the poverty line due to economic crisis. The high number of ratio of poor people is seen in Asian countries as their culture of big families and lone parent family builds up the burden on only one person to earn and feed all the family. The social case has prevailed again as a newbie due to nonexistence of living wage for many people. Low paid work ad low subsidiary for those who earn low wages.
Poverty Line and Developing Matters
The poverty line is the minimum amount of income that is sufficient to acquire basic necessities of life. Every country has a different poverty line according to their economy. It is higher in developed countries than in developing countries. Poverty line according to international standards is roughly $1 per day.
Social Consequences of Poverty
The aftereffect of poverty is the “poverty cycle” across individual and global levels. According to the studies it is found that almost one-third of the deaths are caused due to poverty. Those living in poverty have lower life expectancy. Hunger and malnutrition are the main threats to early deaths and child mortality. About 90% of the maternal deaths during childbirth occur in Asian and sub Saharan Africa, compared to 1% in other developed countries. Poverty is somewhere linked to poor education as well because poor children prefer to earn instead of studying that is earning for their parent and themselves. In poor households, due to lack of proper healthcare facilities children face absentees from educational institutes. Poverty also increases the risk of homelessness. In urban cities one-third f the population is actually living in slums. Lastly, violence is another characteristic of poverty which is aggravated due to hunger and less income. The poverty gap index increases due to economic crisis which badly affects those who are below the poverty line and also highlight the Karl Mark two class systems. However, “poverty is worst form of violence” as said by Gandhi as it paves way for more worst scenarios.
