Facts about Poverty

Poverty is defined as a state of being extremely poor. The criteria behind being considered 'extremely poor' vary by region and legislation; the World Bank defines "absolute poverty" as the state of having to survive on less than $1.25 a day.

Despite differing statistics in disparate studies, it can be ascertained that close to or more than 1 billion people in the world live in 'absolute poverty', as defined by the World Bank.

Rather than the legal definition, however, poverty can be better explained as an enforced substandard state of living, encompassing and adversely affecting all aspects of an individual's and a family's life. As the epochal Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi put it, poverty is the worst form of violence.

Poverty lowers the standard of living of those affected in more ways than one. Substandard food, virtually absent healthcare provisions and lack of education are just some of the inevitable consequences of poverty.

✦ UNICEF has determined that almost 30,000 children die every day due to poverty. In total, 50,000 deaths each day can be traced back to poverty. In the time you have been reading this article so far, up to 25 people would have died due to poverty.

✦ The global human population stands at more than 7 billion. Nearly half of it lives on less than $2.50 a day.

✦ There are about 640 million children who are shelterless.

✦ One billion people, including more than 400 million children, do not have any kind of access to a safe source of drinking water.

✦ Almost 2.5 billion people don't have access to adequate sanitation.

✦ At any given moment, close to half of all the people in developing countries suffer from problems caused by ill-advised water and sanitation facilities.

✦ About 270 million children cannot avail any kind of health service; more than 30 million have received no vaccinations -- a virtual staple in our everyday life -- at all.

✦ More than 120 million children cannot avail education due to poverty. Girls are more likely to forfeit education, due to the predominantly patriarchal nature of societies around the world.

✦ An offshoot of the previous point, close to a billion people -- i.e., one of every seven people in the world -- have not received sufficient education to read a book.

✦ Almost 250 million children are forced to work to fend for themselves and their family, despite legislative banishment of child labor in most countries.

✦ Although diseases like pneumonia and malaria are no longer a worrisome occurrence in the modern world, more than 5 million children are killed every year due to the two.

✦ Only 20% of the population of developed countries consume more than 80% of global resources. The skewed economic dynamics are a tangible effect of global poverty.

✦ About 500 million people in the American, Asian and Latin American countries are estimated to be living in "absolute poverty".

While the world parades the technological upgrades brought about in the 21st century, the voices of those mired on the other side of the coin are often denied a rostrum.

Poverty is a phenomenon that will take a long time to be completely eradicated. Efforts by the United Nations, governments, and NGOs are in progress to abolish the evils of poverty, and it is hoped that this global virus can be exterminated as quickly as possible.