Poverty

D

Crime and Violence

Some experts believe that poverty leads people to commit acts of violence and crime. Anger, desperation, and the need for money for food, shelter, and other necessities may all contribute to criminal behavior among the poor. Other experts caution that the link of cause and effect between poverty and crime is unclear. In some cases, poverty undoubtedly motivates people to commit crimes, although it may not be the only factor involved. Other problems associated with poverty are often linked to crime. For example, to obtain money some poor people commit the crime of selling illegal drugs; others may steal to obtain the money to buy drugs on which they are dependent.

E

Long-Term Effects

People who grow up in poverty may experience lifelong problems because of it. They are at a disadvantage in things such as education because they have limited income and resources. All children also need adequate nutrition and health care for good physical and mental development, and poor children are often malnourished and sick from a young age.

Studies have shown that people who grow up in persistently poor households experience more difficulties throughout their lives than those raised in households that are above the poverty level. Overall, they do not do as well in school, have more difficulties in marriage, and more frequently become single parents. In addition, poverty tends to perpetuate itself. In many cases, those who had poor parents are poor themselves, earning lower-than-average incomes. They may also have learned a mindset that keeps them from getting out of poverty. All of these negative long-term effects are much more likely to occur if children experience prolonged poverty, an unfortunate circumstance much more likely to affect minority children.

V

Poverty in Developing Countries

Many developing nations experience severe and widespread poverty, which often leads to disease epidemics, starvation, and deaths. In the past few decades, millions of people have starved and died as a result of famine in such countries as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, North Korea, Somalia, and Sudan. As recently as 1998, almost one person in four (23 percent) residing in developing countries lived on less than $1 a day.

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Poverty disproportionately affects women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. In many developing nations, women have low social status and are restricted in their access to both education and income-generating work. Without adequate income, they commonly depend on men for support, but often get little. In some developing countries, including in Southeast Asia and eastern Europe, poor women seeking to work or immigrate to other countries are tricked and sold into prostitution or indentured servitude. They receive little or no pay, and are forced to stay to pay off debts incurred through their immigration. Many women end up in sweatshops—illegal factories, usually for making clothing, that have poor working conditions and long hours. Asian countries such as China, India, Korea, and Thailand have been widely accused of permitting or encouraging poor families to kill their female babies, a practice known as female infanticide. These countries are overpopulated, and their cultures promote the belief that men contribute more to economies and bring more wealth to their families than do women.

People who do not work—such as young children, the elderly, and many people with disabilities—depend on families and other support networks for basic necessities. However, neither poor families nor the governments of many developing countries can adequately support the nonworking. Poor children in particular suffer the consequences. Children have underdeveloped immune systems, and they easily acquire diseases in unsanitary living conditions. Thus the poorest countries have high rates of child morbidity (disease) and mortality. Children also have very low social status, and often suffer from parental neglect and abuse because they are not considered important. Like women in many developing countries, children may be exploited as prostitutes or as workers for little or no pay.

Throughout the developing world, ethnic and racial minorities experience prejudice from majority groups and have difficulty attaining an average standard of living. For example, under the system of apartheid, enforced in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s, the government systematically denied rights, fair treatment, and educational and employment opportunities to nonwhites, leaving them in massive poverty. Migrants and refugees, who have left their native land and settled elsewhere, also experience high degrees of poverty. Migrants commonly lose the immediate economic support of their families and enter into societies in which they may have difficulty finding good work, especially if they do not speak the language (see Migration).

A

Africa

Africa includes some of the poorest countries in the world. In much of Africa south of the Sahara, harsh environmental conditions exacerbate the conditions of poverty. Dry and barren land covers large expanses of this region. As the poor try to eke out livings through farming and other subsistence practices, they exhaust the land, using up the soil nutrients needed to grow crops. Over time this has led to desertification, a process in which once fertile land turns to desert. During the late 20th century, desertification contributed to famines in a number of African nations, including Somalia, Ethiopia, and Mali. Political instability and wars in many sub-Saharan countries have also contributed to poverty. As a result of such factors, the number of people living in extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa grew from 217 million in 1987 to more than 300 million in 1998.

B

South and East Asia

In 1998 Asia (including South Asia, East Asia, and the Pacific region) accounted for about two-thirds of the world’s 1.2 billion poorest people. These people all lived on less than $1 per day. South Asia—that is, the Indian subcontinent, which includes India, Nepal, and Bangladesh—had about 522 million people living in extreme poverty in 1996. India had the greatest number of poor of any country in the world—more than 300 million people, more than one-third of its population. The caste system associated with Hinduism, the dominant religion in India, helps perpetuate some of this poverty. This system keeps many families poor from generation to generation by assigning certain groups of people to low status.

Approximately 267 million people in East and Southeast Asia lived on less than $1 per day in 1998. China has very large numbers of poor due to the great size of its rural population. Such Southeast Asian countries as Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia also rank among the world’s poorest.

Several wars have contributed to poverty in South and East Asia. World War II (1939-1945) and the wars in Korea (1950-1953) and Vietnam (1959-1975) damaged land, crops, and forests; prevented many people from making a living; and killed and dislocated millions. In the late 20th century, governments and industries around these regions sponsored massive deforestation, mining, and damming projects that damaged or hindered access to forests, fields, and water resources. Such projects also forced many people to abandon their homes and fields, making them more susceptible to poverty.

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