Causes of Poverty and Definition of Poverty by People

Student’s Last Name 1
Development Problems, Policies and Programs
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Introduction
Estimates provide that almost half of the world population (over 3 billion people) live
under $ 2.5 per day. At the same time, the Gross Domestic Product of the 41 nations which are
regarded as heavily indebted and poor (567 million people), is considerably lower compared to
the wealth of the 7 richest people in the world (Turner, Brandon, Brooks, Gascon, Gibbs,
Lawrence, Mittermeier and Selig, 2012 p.90). Another report indicates that approximately one
billion of the world’s population transitioned into the 21st century without the slightest
knowledge of how to read or sign their names (Edmonds and Schady, 2012 p.100). It is also
surprising to note that less than one percent of the annual spending on weapons was required to
place every child into a learning institution by the start of 2000, yet this was not executed. The
aforementioned startling facts gave me the urge to choose the topics of “causes of poverty” and
“definition of poverty by people” and conduct an in-depth research on them.
While most of the literary studies focus more about sexuality, gender, and race, too many
ignore the topic about the economically struggling and this was one of the main reasons why I
choose to focus on this seemingly snubbed topic. Besides this, I was interested in knowing the
various ways in which institutions and the society at large causes some individuals to be rich and
others to be poor. Notably, poverty is driven by some factors evident in the society such as
politics, culture, and religion. Bad politics suppresses one section of the society and keeps them
poor so as to constantly dictate and rule them. Second, the issue of culture keeps a fraction of the
society poor since they possess a mindset that refuses to accept anything modern. Third, some
religious practices and beliefs contribute to poverty as they cause people to misinterpret God’s
provision and goodness to mean no work or effort (Yoshikawa, Aber, and Beardslee, 2012

Student’s Last Name 3
p.272). Additionally, as discussed in my earlier post, lack of education in the society contributes
significantly to the poverty levels. In essence, education offers people a chance to secure a job,
create a functional business idea, make meaningful budgets, and so forth.
Another reason why I decided to study the causes of poverty is to determine the
consequences of poverty at both an individual and societal level and develop remedies to solve
the situation. As seen in the discussion post, promoting education can help to eradicate poverty.
This can be done by awarding scholarships to academically excellent but poor students. In
addition to this, ill health has been noted to increase poverty. Hence, there is the need for people
to take care of their health to avoid spending their resources on treating diseases. Governments
should also focus more on creating economic growth policies and programs in multiple sectors
including education, health, sanitation, and nutrition, giving the poor an opportunity to contribute
and participate in the building of the economy. According to studies, a 10 percent rise in a
nation’s average income minimizes the number of poor people by approximately 20-30 percent
(Hagenaars, 2017 p.101). Other worthy initiatives that can be taken to minimize or completely
eradicate poverty include enhancing the management of natural resources such as water,
investing in agricultural programs, encouraging trade, creating more jobs, providing access to
social services, continuously creating social protection systems, and empowering the
economically unstable.
The second topic I discussed is the definition of poverty by various people. In essence,
definitions of poverty matter a lot as they place the standards by which people examine whether
the living conditions and incomes of the most deprived in the society are acceptable or
unacceptable (Adena and Myck, 2014 p.202). Moreover, defining poverty is important in