POVERTY

 

 STATISTICS

More than one billion people live on less than $1 a day; another 2.7 billion struggle on less than $2 a day, and income inequality is increasing around the world. Globally, nearly 200 million people are unemployed, while millions more are under-employed and don't have enough work or income to support their families.

 The poverty line threshold for an individual in the U.S. is 10,590, which equals 882.50 per month and 29.41 per day.

 The poverty line threshold for a family of four in the U.S. is 21,203, which equals 1766.91 per month, 58.89 per day, and 14.72 per person per day.

 12% of the U.S. population lives at or under the poverty line as described above. This is roughly 32 million that are living on an average of 20.00 per day.

 28% of the entire Global population lives at or under the poverty line as described above. This is roughly 1.4 billion that are living on, or less than 1.25 per day.

 

COMPARISON

Poverty in the developed world is not the same as in the developing world. The developed world has infrastructure, systems, and governmental organizations that provide the basic necessities that are scarce to non-existent in the developing world. This is not to say that those living in poverty in the developed world do not deserve to be helped. We should come along side ALL of our brothers and sisters in need, it just happens to be that those living on, or less than 1.25 a day are in critical need in relation to those that are living on 20.00 a day.

The "average" American earns 40,000 a year and sadly lives on close to that amount, which equals 3,333.00 per month, and 111.00 per day. That is 5 times that of the impoverished America neighbor, and 88 times that of our global neighbors.

Yes, those in the developed world have mortgages, auto loans, utility bills, phone bills, ins. etc. and are therefore very busy earning wages to pay for these uses...but we must not forget that we are fortunate to even have these choices, where the extreme impoverished have not.

In conclusion, if the developed world became better stewarts of their financial resources, we could both reduce our own self-induced financial stresses and help empower our impoverished neighbors at the same time.

 

POVERTY TRAP

The poverty trap is a scenario where people experience poverty due to circumstances beyond their control. The trap becomes cyclical and begins to reinforce itself if steps are not taken to break the cycle. Depending upon a person's origin of birth, they may find themselves financially stable their entire lives, or at the other extreme, they may find themselves born into severe poverty that seems utterly inescapable. Many factors contribute to a poverty trap, and these factors vary from case to case. Impact seeks to give the impoverished a foot-hold in order to begin the climb out of their dire circumstances.

 

 

"When one is poor, she has no say in public, she feels inferior. She has no food, so there is famine in her house; no clothing, and no progress in her family." - a woman from Uganda