Poverty Defined
The most widely held and understood definition of extreme poverty, established by the World Bank, defines poverty in strictly economic terms — earning less than $1.90 a day.
Worldwide 600 million children live in extreme poverty. Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.The poor themselves describe poverty in terms of suffering relationships.
The most widely held and understood definition of extreme poverty, established by the World Bank, defines poverty in strictly economic terms — earning less than $1.90 a day.
Worldwide 600 million children live in extreme poverty. Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.The poor themselves describe poverty in terms of suffering relationships.
02.01.2021
(49) The Doctor Who Charges Only 3 Cents to Save Lives.
Dr.Ravindra Kolhe is a doctor and an Indian activist who has spent more than 37 years of his life improving the lives of people living in the tribal areas of Melghat, Maharashtra. Dr.Kolhe is famous across the country of India as an "Rs.1 doctor" as he charges Rs.1 or USD 3 cents for his medical assistance. Dr.Ravindra Kolhe is working with his wife, Dr.Smita Kolhe to look after the tribal people and help them in leading healthier lives. Dr. Ravindra Kolhe and Dr. Smita Kolhe have transformed the lives of the tribals of Melghat. They have improved health outcomes in the area and helped the villagers gain access to electricity, roads and primary health centres.
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16.12.2020
(48) Turning Trash Into Light , 1.1 Billion Are Living In The Dark.
The simple act of filling recycled plastic bottles with water and chlorine has allowed light to enter millions of previously unlit homes around the globe. What's more, this innovation has saved low-income families up to 40% on electricity bills. Alfredo Moser, a Brazilian mechanic, his invention was very easy to produce — it only required a half-liter plastic bottle filled with water and 10 milliliters of chlorine. And with the bottle fitted into a small hole made in the roof, sunlight could then be reflected into those places it did not normally reach. These types of sustainable “light bulbs” have a lifespan of 10 years and do not require servicing over that period.
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16.10.2020
(47) COVID-19 Pandemic Pushes Up to 150 Million More People Into Extreme Poverty
The World Bank has warned up to 150 million people are set to fall into extreme poverty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the new extreme poor will be in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. The pandemic has halted years of progress against global extreme poverty and is expected to rise this year for the first time in over two decades. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than $1.90 (£1.50) a day. Before the pandemic struck, the extreme poverty rate was expected to drop to 7.9% in 2020. But now it is likely to affect between 9.1% and 9.4% of the world's population this year.
"1 in 10 people on earth with less than USD 1.90 a day" "1 in 10 people on earth with less than USD 3.20 a day" "2 in 10 people on earth with less than USD 5.50 a day" |
13.09.2020
(46) COVID-19: Ugandans' Children, Single Mothers Struggle for Survival
With Uganda's population increasing, demand for accommodation and infrastructure is also on the rise. Construction companies often take advantage of cheap materials, like the stone produced by these workers. But crushing stones by hand is causing serious health concerns among workers as accidents and injuries are very common here. Many has been working here since 2008. They say without any protective gear, many of their colleagues have been hospitalised.
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13.07.2020
(45) Yemen: Millions of Children Facing Deadly Hunger, Amidst Aid Shortages and COVID-19.
More than eight million people, nearly half of them children, depend directly on the agency for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), amid ongoing conflict, cholera outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic. In the report, the agency alerts for almost 10 million children without proper access to water and sanitation, as well as for 7.8 million children without access to education, following school closures. Widespread absence from class and a worsening economy could put children at greater risk of child labour, recruitment into armed groups and child marriage, the report highlights.
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27.06.2020
(44)‘No Food, No Water, No Masks and No Gloves': Migrant Farm Workers in Spain at Crisis Point.
Migrant workers on Spanish farms that provide fruit and vegetables for UK supermarkets are trapped in dire conditions under lockdown, living in cardboard and plastic shelters without food or running water. Thousands of workers, many of them undocumented, live in settlements between huge greenhouses on farms in the southern Spanish provinces of Huelva and Almeria, key regions for European supply chains. Failure of employers provide basic rights has for years created dire circumstances for the inhabitants of the settlements. Now, the pandemic has pushed the situation to crisis point.
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14.06.2020
(43) Mobile Camel Library Keeps Ethiopian Children From Forced Labor.
In a remote part of Ethiopia, one charity has come up with a novel way of protecting children that are out of school because of the coronavirus pandemic from forced labor – camels bearing books. Ethiopia closed its schools in mid-March and sent more than 26 million children home, where experts say they are at greater risk for forced labor and child marriage. But in the country's eastern Somali region, more than 20 camels have been deployed to carry wooden boxes filled with storybooks to help thousands of children in remote villages to continue their education.
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31.05.2020
(42) Rohingya Refugee Camp Hit By Covid-19 Outbreak.
Some 15,000 Rohingya refugees are now under Covid-19 coronavirus quarantine in Bangladesh's vast camps, officials said on Monday, as the number of confirmed infections rose. Health experts have long warned that the virus could race through the cramped settlements, housing almost a million Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar, and officials had restricted movement to the area in April 2020. It comes as charity workers expressed fears over being infected in the camps as they worked without adequate protection. "Social distancing is almost impossible in the camps. There is very little awareness about Covid-19 disease among the refugees, despite efforts by aid agencies." The lack of information is exacerbated by local authorities having cut off access to the internet in September to combat, they said, drug traffickers and other criminals.
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04.04.2020
(41) In Poor Countries, The Lockdown Cure Could be Worse than Disease.
To state the obvious, it is harder to impose a lockdown in a poor country than in a rich one. In huge cities such as South Africa, Lagos, Mumbai or Manila, instructing people to stay at home is to confine millions to cramped housing. In the slums where up to half the population may live, people could be crammed six or eight to a room, with no easy access to water, or even soap. In South Africa, signs of social stress are everywhere. Police have used rubber bullets and tear gas to enforce social distancing in the crowded townships, where the black majority still lives a quarter of a century after the end of apartheid.
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01.04.2020
(40)‘We Will Starve Here’: India’s Poor Flee Cities in Mass Exodus.
Tired, hungry day-wage laborers march to villages on foot and the migration risks spreading virus across India during lockdown. In small groups and large crowds, through inner-city lanes and down interstate highways, hundreds of thousands of India’s poorest are slowly making a desperate journey on foot back to their villages in a mass exodus unseen since the days immediately after India’s independence in 1947. For many, it’s a matter of life and death. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s order last Tuesday to lock down the country for 21 days to prevent the spread of Covid-19 has dried up work in urban areas, leaving many rural migrants who keep the city moving while making less than $2 a day -- construction workers, handymen, food sellers, truck drivers and household help -- suddenly wondering how they’ll pay rent or buy food.
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17.02.2020
(39)This Man Feeds 1200 Orphans Every Month Through His Viral Food Channel.
Khwaja Moinuddin is a former journalist, who has worked with a prestigious Telugu channel and is now following his passion for making others happy with his culinary skills. From delicious curries to mouth-watering cakes, he makes everything in large quantities with a motive. Their motive behind large quantities is to feed as many kids as possible. And for that, they started approaching all sorts of orphanages in the city. Every month, they feed around 1200 kids of various orphanages.
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23.01.2020
(38)More Than 4 Million People in Canada Struggle to Get Enough to Eat.
Canadians who cannot afford regular meals are more likely to die early, according to a study released on Monday, showing that people are dying from hunger even in wealthy countries. The study of more than half a million Canadian adults found that hunger was linked to raised mortality from all causes of death except cancer. But infectious diseases, unintentional injuries and suicide were twice as likely to kill those who faced severe problems finding enough food as those who do not, said the paper, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
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17.12.19
(37)Is Your Phone Tainted by the Misery of the 35,000 Children in Congo's Mines?
The field research shows that children as young as six are among those risking their lives amid toxic dust to mine cobalt for the world’s big electronics firms. This cobalt is found in every lithium-ion rechargeable battery on the planet – from smartphones to tablets to laptops to electric vehicles. It is also used to fashion superalloys to manufacture jet engines, gas turbines and magnetic steel. You cannot send an email, check social media, drive an electric car or fly home for the holidays without using this cobalt. this cobalt is not awash in cerulean hues. Instead, it is smeared in misery and blood.
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14.12.19
(36) 1.4 million Venezuelans had Crossed into Colombia on Foot to Escape Poverty
The Venezuela humanitarian crisis is projected to become the largest refugee crisis in the world by 2020. As Venezeula’s neighbor, Colombia has become home to more Venezuelan migrants than any other country in Latin America. The most vulnerable of these Venezuelan migrants are arriving in Colombia on foot; thousands cross the border into Colombia every day. Some plan to walk from the Colombian border to Ecuador, Peru, or Chile. These migrants are called the caminantes, or the walkers.
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25.10.19
(35)Demand for Cheap Labour Driving Human Trafficking Tragedy of 39 Deaths Driven by Debt.
The grim discovery of 39 Chinese nationals, who died as they were being smuggled in the back of a truck into the UK, has put the spotlight on human trafficking and slavery, and experts say the demand for cheap labour around the world means it's unlikely to dent this deadly trade. The victims suffocated when an air vent was shut to avoid being spotted at immigration checks, with the driver, Dutchman Perry Wacker, later jailed for 14 years for manslaughter.
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02.09.19
(34)An Estimated 2% of the World's Population (160 million) are Homeless .
Homelessness is a mark of failure for communities in providing basic security. Based on national reports, about 2 percent of the world’s population may be homeless and another 20 percent lacks adequate housing. Reasons for homelessness include “shortages of affordable housing, privatization of civic services, investment speculation in housing, unplanned and rapid urbanization, as well as poverty, unemployment and family breakdown. Also contributing is a lack of services and facilities for those suffering from mental illness, alcoholism or substance abuse and displacement caused by conflicts, natural disasters and government housing policies.” Even people with jobs can struggle to keep homes.
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23.08.19
(33)Poorer than We Think: Malaysia's Poverty Levels Far Higher than Reported, U.N. Expert Says
Malaysia’s claim to having the world’s lowest national poverty rate is inaccurate, as the official figure vastly undercounts poverty, says United Nations human rights expert, Philip Alston. The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights said Malaysia uses an unduly low poverty line that does not reflect the cost of living and excludes vulnerable populations from its official figures. He also said the official numbers relied on outdated measures, with the poverty line remaining at the same level for decades despite increasingly high costs of living.
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06.07.19
"Climate Apartheid",
(32)-where the rich pay to save themselves, "while the rest of the world is left to suffer".
A key warning was that the world's poor are likely to be hardest hit by rising temperatures - and the potential food shortages and conflict that could accompany such a change. Developing nations are expected to suffer at least 75% of the costs of climate change – despite the fact that the poorer half of the world's population generate just 10% of emissions. Those "who have contributed the least to emissions... will be the most harmed," , warning that the effects could undo 50 years of progress on poverty reduction.
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01.07.19
(31) 600 million people facing acute water shortage in India.
India is battling a brutal heatwave that has killed more than 130 people this summer. The heatwave is exacerbating an already alarming reality - with more than 600 million people facing an acute water shortage. The world's second-most populous country is running out of water. Huge number of people across India are on the front lines of a nationwide water crisis. A total of 21 major cities are poised to run out of groundwater next year, according to a 2018 report by government-run think tank NITI Aayog.
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18.06.19
(30)‘Solar Mama’ Edina Levitico on Bringing Solar Power to Malawi Village.
Just 11% of Malawi’s population is estimated to have access to electricity. In 2016 Levitico was one of eight women to take a six-month course in solar engineering at India’s Barefoot College. She took what she learned back to her home in Kainja Village and powered classrooms with three other women who went through the program and helped transforms at least 200 homes from candle to solar power. 50.7% of Malawi’s population lives below the poverty line. Levitico says she earns a steady income installing and maintaining the panels.
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23.05.19
(29)World Day Against Child Labour 12 June.
Today, throughout the world, around 218 million children work, many full-time. They do not go to school and have little or no time to play. Many do not receive proper nutrition or care. They are denied the chance to be children. More than half of them are exposed to the worst forms of child labour such as work in hazardous environments, slavery, or other forms of forced labour, illicit activities including drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict.
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28.03.19
(28)Six People Fall Into Extreme Poverty in Nigeria Every Minute.
Nigeria has more extremely poor people than any other nation and United Nations says Nigeria’s population will double by 2050. The estimated figure now is 87 million people, or almost half the population of Africa’s biggest oil producer, and unless something dramatic happens, it’s going to get much bigger.
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28.02.19
(27) 'Water from air' quenches threatened girls' thirst in arid Kenya .
Solar-powered panels that condense water vapour in the air could be a sustainable source of drinking water in dry areas. A centre run by the Samburu Girls Foundation - which rescues girls facing early marriage and female genital mutilation - has a new high-tech source of it. Since June, the centre, which has rescued more than 1,200 girls, has used panels that catch water vapour in the air and condense it to supply their drinking water. But now, officials at the school say, the girls no longer have to travel for water - including into communities they have left, which could put them at risk.
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16.02.19
(26)Living in Cages: The Stories Behind Hong Kong’s Housing Crisis.
In wealthy Hong Kong , the poor are living in wire cages. Hundreds of thousands of poor people are living in tiny, wire cage homes - and they are actually paying quite dearly for the privilege. An extended housing crisis has put the possibility of purchasing a home out of the reach of many — and has made the cage home a reality for Hong Kong’s poorest. Incredibly, the 16-square-foot cages rent for around $170-$190 USD, which if calculated by cost per square foot makes them more expensive than the most posh apartments in Hong Kong. Building after building, floor after floor – rooms with up to 30 cages each populate the poorest areas of the city. The United Nations calls the squalid conditions of cage homes “an insult to human dignity,”
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13.02.19
(25)Turning Fog Into Water Transforms Women's Lives in Morocco.
They are known as water guardians. Women in Southwest Morocco’s rural communities begin their trek as early as 4 a.m. and spend an average of 3.5 hours a day making multiple trips to collect water for their families. In the summer, it takes them more than four hours. Sometimes they return empty-handed because the wells are dry or their buckets broken. When available, they offer the water first to their children, elders and then the animals, often leaving the women thirsty at the end of arduous days. For girls it often means that they could not continue school, in order to help their mothers with the daily water gathering. Harvesting water from fog is an ancient and relatively straightforward technique that requires few materials and no electricity. The process consists of hanging specialized plastic nets between two tall poles to trap the tiny water droplets found in fog. When the wind pushes fog through the vertical mesh, the droplets are trapped, then drip into a gutter at the base of the unit. This pure water is collected and distributed via plastic pipes that run down the mountain into homes in nearby villages. The 870 square meters of nets installed by Dar Si Hmad collect an average of 22 liters of water per square meter every day. Credit: UN Climate Change
23.01.19
(24)The Latest Global Extreme Poverty Numbers from World Bank
Despite the progress made in reducing poverty, the number of people living in extreme poverty globally remains unacceptably high. And given global growth forecasts, poverty reduction may not be fast enough to reach the target of ending extreme poverty by 2030.
- More than half of the extreme poor live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, the number of poor in the region increased by 9 million, with 413 million people living on less than US$1.90 a day in 2015, more than all the other regions combined. If the trend continues, by 2030, nearly 9 out of 10 extreme poor will be in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- The work to end extreme poverty is far from over, and many challenges remain. The latest projections show that if we continue down a business-as-usual path, the world will not be able to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. That’s because it is becoming even more difficult to reach those remaining in extreme poverty, who often live in fragile countries and remote areas. Access to good schools, health care, electricity, safe water, and other critical services remains elusive for many people, often determined by socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and geography. Moreover, for those who have been able to move out of poverty, progress is often temporary: Economic shocks, food insecurity and climate change threaten to rob them of their hard-won gains and force them back into poverty. It will be critical to find ways to tackle these issues as we make progress toward 2030.
- Credit: WORLD BANK GROUP
23.01.19
(23)Fifth of UK population now in poverty amid worst decline for children and pensioners in decades.
The report, by the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), shows that a total of 16 million people in the UK currently live in poverty – more than one in five of the population. More than a fifth of the population live on incomes below the poverty line after housing costs are taken into account, even though most of these households are in work. Nearly one in three children live in poverty and the use of food banks is rising. There is a sixfold difference between the income of the top 20% of households and those of the bottom 20%. Wealth inequality is much worse, with 44% of the UK’s wealth owned by just 10% of the population, five times the total wealth held by the poorest half. Credit: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
10.12.18
(22)Kenya: women and girls forced to engage in sex to survive near-famine
Women and girls in Turkana County, northern Kenya, are being exploited in exchange for money to buy food, the International Rescue Committee said today. The IRC is seeing an increase in gender-based violence, early and forced marriage, and women and girls engaging in transactional sex as a direct consequence of food insecurity caused by drought in the region. 2.6 million people are food insecure, and the area has seen a 5-fold increase in food prices, conflict around watering points, loss of livestock, and an increase in malnutrition and infectious diseases. As a result of the drought, girls as young as 12 years old are moving from rural to urban areas to engage in transactional sex. Mostly being solicited in nightclubs, they receive as little as 50 shillings (US$0.50) in exchange for sex. Many of these young girls report being the head of their household with younger siblings or even children of their own who depend on them for food. Credit: International Rescue Committee (IRC)
24.11.18
(21)Hunger, disease has killed 85,000 young children in Yemen War.
An estimated 85,000 children under age five may have died of hunger and disease since the outbreak of war in Yemen three years ago, an international aid group said Wednesday. Save the Children based its figures on mortality rates for untreated cases of severe malnutrition in young children. The United Nations says more than 1.3 million children have suffered from severe malnutrition since a Saudi-led coalition went to war with Yemen's Houthi rebels in March 2015. The war has given rise to what the UN deems the world's worst humanitarian crisis. Three-quarters of Yemen's people require life-saving assistance, and more than eight million are at risk of starvation. Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the fighting. Credit: SBS NEWS
13.10.18
(20)Having a period is unaffordable in Kenya, yet no one wants to talk about it.
ZanaAfrica is fighting to get menstruation on the national curriculum as it’s revealed two thirds of Kenyan women and girls cannot afford sanitary pads. In Kenya, 65% of women and girls are unable to afford sanitary pads. “When people earn less than two bucks a day, is a family going to [get] bread, milk and food, or a girl’s sanitary pads?” says ZanaAfrica. Access to sanitary products is of limited help if schools don’t have the supporting infrastructure, such as separate bathrooms for girls with doors and locks for privacy. In rural areas of Kenya, only 32% of schools have a private place for girls to change their sanitary products. Many teachers are also uncomfortable talking about or teaching menstruation. ZanaAfrica will distribute a variety of sanitary products and will pilot Nia teen magazine , to teach girls about menstruation and reproductive health. Credit: ZanaAfrica
22.9.18
(19)KNOW YOUR WORLD: FACTS ABOUT WORLD HUNGER
Today there are 821 million people who do not have enough to eat. This is more than the 795 million in 2016, although still down from about 900 million in 2010. Nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to under-nutrition. This translates into the unnecessary loss of about 3 million young lives a year. Globally, 155 million children under 5 still suffer from stunting. In 2016, about two out of every four stunted children lived in South Asia and one in three in sub-Saharan Africa. Credit: Unifeed
18.9.18
(18)U.S. CEOs now earn 312 times the average worker's wage, figures show
The chief executives of America’s top 350 companies earned 312 times more than their workers on average last year, according to a new report published Thursday by the Economic Policy Institute. The rise came after the bosses of America’s largest companies got an average pay rise of 17.6% in 2017, taking home an average of $18.9m in compensation while their employees’ wages stalled, rising just 0.3% over the year. Credit: Economic Policy Institute
28.8.18
(17)Half the world's schools lack clean water, toilets and handwashing.
Nearly half the world's schools lack clean drinking water, toilets and handwashing facilities, putting millions of children at risk of disease, experts warned. Almost 900 million children have to contend with a lack of basic hygiene facilities during their education, putting their health at risk and meaning some have to miss school. A lack of safe water and sanitation facilities can cause dehydration, illness, and even death. But many children are forced to risk their health to take part in classes, according to the report produced jointly by the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF and the WHO, the first to look specifically at provision in schools. It found nearly a third of primary and secondary schools lacked a safe and reliable drinking water supply, affecting nearly 570 million children. Nearly 20 percent of schools had no safe drinking water at all. Just over a third of schools lacked adequate toilet facilities, affecting more than 620 million children. Almost one in five primary schools and one in eight secondary schools were considered to have no sanitation. Nearly half lacked proper handwashing facilities, essential for helping prevent the spread of infections and disease. Nearly 900 million children were affected, the report found. Sub-Saharan Africa, East and Southeast Asia had some of the worst facilities.
Credit: United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF https://data.unicef.org/resources/wash-in-schools/
Credit: United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF https://data.unicef.org/resources/wash-in-schools/
28.8.18
(16)Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is more, much more than just not having enough money.
The World Bank Organisation describes poverty in this way:
“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.
Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to action -- for the poor and the wealthy alike -- a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities.”
Facts about World Poverty
“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.
Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So poverty is a call to action -- for the poor and the wealthy alike -- a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities.”
Facts about World Poverty
- 80% of humanity live on less that $10 a day
- The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income
- According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty.
- Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2014. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide
- There are 2.2 billion children in the world and 1 billion live in poverty that is every second child
- More than 750 million people lack adequate access to clean drinking water. Diarrhea caused by inadequate drinking water, sanitation, and hand hygiene kills an estimated 842,000 people every year globally, or approximately 2,300 people per day.
- In 2014, 165 million children under the age 5 were stunted (reduced rate of growth and development) due to chronic malnutrition.
- Preventable diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia take the lives of 2 million children a year who are too poor to afford proper treatment.
- 1/4 of all humans live without electricity — approximately 1.8 billion people.
- Oxfam estimates that it would take $90 billion annually to end extreme global poverty--that's less than 1/4 the income of the top 100 richest billionaires.
- The World Food Programme says, “The poor are hungry and their hunger traps them in poverty.” Hunger is the number one cause of death in the world, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
25.8.18
(15)Shocking Aerial Photos Highlight Wealth Inequality in Cities Worldwide.
Johnny Miller's Unequal Scenes, the photographer was using aerial photography to highlight wealth disparity in South Africa. Now, he's branched out to countries around the globe, using a drone to call attention to the income differential that often sees new tennis courts adjacent to abandoned lots. “The images that I find the most powerful are when the camera is looking straight down—what’s known as ‘nadir view,' looking at the actual borders between rich and poor,” Miller tells My Modern Met. “Sometimes this is a fence, sometimes a road, or wetlands—with small shacks or poor houses on one side, and larger houses or mansions on the other. Whatever it is about the composition of those photographs, they are extremely powerful to people. I think the images make inequality relevant—people can see themselves reflected in the images, and it’s deeply unsettling.” Credit: Unequal Scenes
25.8.18
(14)Inspiring photo of Afghan woman taking university exam while nursing child.
A woman sits on the floor of a classroom, nursing her baby while simultaneously taking a high-stakes exam, as dozens of other students around her do the same. The extraordinary scene, set in a private university in Afghanistan's Daykundi province, was captured in a compelling photo that went viral on social media. Jahan Taab, 25, was taking an entrance exam -- called the Kankor exam -- for the social science course at Nasirkhosraw Higher Education Institute in Nilli city when her two-month baby started crying, according to Yahya Erfan, a lecturer at the university who was monitoring the test. So, she left her desk, sat cross-legged on the floor and kept writing up the answers, while taking care of her baby.
Credit: Yahya Erfan & Nasirkhosraw Higher Education Institute
Credit: Yahya Erfan & Nasirkhosraw Higher Education Institute
25.8.18
(13)Child poverty still rising in Germany, official report shows.
The best way to protect German children from poverty is for both parents to work, a new Family Ministry report has said. The number of children at risk from poverty has risen in the country, despite a booming economy. Some 3.4 million children and young people in Germany were living at risk of poverty in 2017, the German government's new "Family Report" has found. That translates to 19.7 percent of all under-18s - a 1.5 percentage-point rise on the 2010 figure, according to the report presented by Family Minister Katarina Barley in Berlin on Friday. The report also found that Germany was seeing a number of different trends in the attitude to the family: more unmarried couples, fewer divorces, more births, fewer childless academics and a more liberal attitude to different types of family. Credit: dw.com
20.7.18
(12)In Japan, single mothers struggle with poverty and a ‘culture of shame’.
The number of families living on an income lower than the public welfare assistance level more than doubled in the 20 years after the asset price bubble popped in 1992, according to a study by Kensaku Tomuro of Yamagata University. Now 16 percent of Japanese children live below the poverty line, according to Health Ministry statistics, but among single-parent families, the rate hits 55 percent. Poverty rates in Osaka are among the worst. Indeed, for women trying to operate support groups, even finding single mothers to help can be a challenge — because the sense of shame runs so deep. Credit: @tictoc by Bloomberg
20.7.18
(11)Global Partnership for Education.
The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is an international organization focused on getting all children into school for a quality education in the world’s poorest countries. GPE works with donors, developing countries, international organizations, foundations, the private sector, teacher organizations, and civil society organizations. Since 2002, there are 72 million more children in school in GPE partner countries. There are 61 million children between the ages of 6 and 11 years are out of school. 250 million children are unable to read and write by the time they reach grade 4. In June 2014, the Global Partnership for Education hosted a fundraiser in Brussels where partners made financial and policy commitments to ensure boys and girls in the poorest countries have access to school and learning. Credit: https://www.globalpartnership.org/
20.7.18
(10)'Poverty tourism': Travellers offered night's stay in Mumbai slum.
Tourists have been offered the chance to spend the night in a Mumbai slum, in order to experience a taste of extreme poverty. This scheme has been created to allow visitors to experience the "reality" of living under financial hardship in India's financial capital, with the "attraction" including the use of a public toilet shared with more than 50 other families. Credit: Al Jazeerd
7.7.18
(9)‘Jakarta’s Princess of the Dump’, who returned to the landfill she once called home to educate & inspire the next generation.
Resa Boenard grew up in Bantar Gebang, a landfill in the satellite city of Bekasi that is final destination for the majority of waste produced by Jakartans. The 108 hectare site receives some 6,000 tons of rubbish per day. Around 3,000 families live at Bantar Gebang, with most parents working as scavengers and most of their children destined to dropout of school and join them. If you’d like to learn more about the incredible work that Resa and her team are doing at The Kingdom of BGBJ, as well as how you can support them through volunteering and donations, please check out www.bgbj.org. Credit: Al Jazeerd
7.7.18
(8)Poverty in Hong Kong hits record high, with 1 in 5 children live under the poverty line.
According to the Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report, there were some 180,000 children (aged below 18) living in poverty in 2015. The child poverty rate was 18 per cent, which meant that nearly every one in five children were living in poverty. Compared with other developed economies, the child poverty rate in Hong Kong is relatively high. It stands at 3.7 per cent in Denmark, 9.8 per cent in Britain, 15.1 per cent in Australia and 21.2 per cent in the US.
Credit: China Daily
Credit: China Daily
7.7.18
(7)China’s path out of poverty can never be repeated at scale by a country again.
China is sometimes looked to for lessons on how to reduce poverty—and there are definitely many to be had. However, the story of how China lifted its hundreds of millions is a particular story of implementing the right policies at the right time in the right place, as the country took advantage of the rise of globalization in a way that wouldn’t be possible today. Even for China. Credit: CGTN
15.6.18
(6)Student Grows Vegetables On Top Of Landfill To Feed Communities In Need.
Joy Youwakim, an economics student at the University of Texas in Austin, is growing produce on top of a landfill to feed her town. The innovate idea aims to address problems of food security in areas classified as food deserts, which are defined as being void of supermarkets that stock fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy staples within a reasonable distance. Credit: General Mills
19.5.18
(5)Little Sun is a project by artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesenand with a mission to bring the sustainable energy to everyone.
Credit: OLAFUR ELIASSON
8.5.18
(4)100,000 kids in Kenya work as child prostitutes.
Many of the children being exploited are not from the coast region but are imported from rural areas from around the country. You don’t have to spend a lot of time at the Kenyan coast to know that child prostitution and sex tourism are rampant there. In Mombasa and Malindi, it is common to see aging white men well into their 70s and 80s with girls young enough to be their granddaughters. Locals tolerate this type of sexual exploitation because, as one put it to me recently, “nothing gets a family out of poverty faster than a daughter who has a white boyfriend.” In many cases, girls are encouraged by none other than their parents and relatives to look for older white men who will not only pay the girl for her services, but her family as well. Credit: IN THE NOW
21.4.18
(3)82% of money last year went to the world's richest 1% .
Eighty two percent of the wealth generated last year went to the richest 1% of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth, according to a new Oxfam report released today. Billionaire wealth has risen by an annual average of 13% since 2010 – six times faster than the wages of ordinary workers, which have risen by a yearly average of just 2%. The number of billionaires rose at a rate of one every two days between March 2016 and March 2017. This huge increase could have ended global extreme poverty seven times over. Credit: Oxfam.org
21.4.18
(2)The population of sub-Saharan Africa is predicted to reach 2b by 2050 and a large percentage of those people are likely to be extremely poor .
Credit: The Economist
21.4.18
(1)Only 45% of the world's population have any kind of social protection system.
A new ILO report shows that massive efforts are still needed to ensure that the right to social security becomes a reality for all. The report highlights that universal social protection contributes to eradicating poverty, reducing inequality, promoting economic growth and social justice, as well as achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The ILO flagship report gives a global overview on the recent trends and following a life-cycle approach analyses the current state of social protection for children, women, men of working age, persons with disabilities and for old-age pensions and care. Credit: United Nations
Poverty deprives people of adequate education, health care and of life's most basic necessities- safe living conditions (including clean air and clean drinking water) and an adequate food supply. The developed (industrialized) countries today account for roughly 20 percent of the world's population but control about 80 percent of the world's wealth.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
Poverty and pollution seem to operate in a vicious cycle that, so far, has been hard to break. Even in the developed nations, the gap between the rich and the poor is evident in their respective social and environmental conditions.
