Poverty

Running head: POVERTY
Poverty
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

POVERTY1
Discussion:
1. Is poverty the result of laziness, or lack of ambition, or lack of skills? Comment
critically
Poverty can be understood as ‘the state of being extremely poor’ and is characterized by
individuals living in such condition, having limited and reduced access to food, shelter,
healthcare, education and employment as well as by the lack of possession of finances or
assets. In its most acute form, it is called absolute poverty (Hagenaars 2017).
Poverty can be caused due to many reasons, each impacting the access of people to
necessary resources. Poverty can be caused due to both natural causes as well as human made
causes, such as war or politics (Felman 2015). On an individual scale however, a person end
up under impoverished conditions after losing access to food, shelter, clothing, education or
employment. The cause of individuals ending under such situation can also be varied and can
be social, political, economic, biological (diseases or disabilities) as well as personal
behavioral issues (such as laziness, lack of ambition) or the lack of necessary skills
(Cosgrove and Curtis 2017).
2. Is poverty a global phenomenon? Please indicate some global statistics on
poverty
According to the World Health Organization, almost 1.2 billion people live under
poverty, earning less than one dollar (USD) per day (who.int 2019). According to the World
Bank, almost 9.9% of the world’s population lives in poverty (data.worldbank.org). Majority
of the people living under poverty live in rural regions, are educated poorly or inadequately,
lack employment or are employed in agricultural sectors (Cosgrove and Curtis 2017). This
shows that poverty is a global phenomenon.