From Ukraine to Gaza
As of 2021, the World Bank estimated that there were around 698 million people living in poverty worldwide. Although that number has sunk considerably from the estimated two billion in 1990, it is an increase of around 50 million people from the estimates of 2019.
While poverty can fall upon countless people in the blink of an eye, climbing out of poverty is not nearly as easy. Research conducted by MIT economist Peter Temin in 2017 showed that it takes nearly 20 years without a single major disruption for a person suffering in generational extreme poverty to peek above the poverty line.
Twenty perfect years, however, is a big order. For those already impoverished, it can be nearly impossible. The very nature of poverty makes it exponentially harder for affected individuals to receive a quality education and higher-than-minimum wages, or to build an environment that fosters growth. The vicious cycle of poverty can persist for generations.
Millions more people who aren't included in the World Bank's estimates spend their lives dangerously close to the poverty line. In 2019, advocacy group Prosperity Now reported that millions of people in the United States alone, a shocking 40% of individuals surveyed, were considered "liquid-asset poor" and only one missed paycheck away from official poverty. These individuals may be able to float tentatively above the poverty line, but with no financial safety net in place, it would take only one disruption, however brief, to send them into poverty.
Poorer areas almost invariably have fewer and less lucrative job opportunities than wealthier neighboring areas. This makes the climb out of poverty all the harder.
Access to safe drinking water is also a pervasive issue in impoverished communities around the world, both rural and metropolitan. Whether caused by dry climates or a lack of proper filtration systems, water can be an even graver issue than food. According to the World Health Organization, nearly two billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water.
A common plight of those living in poverty is food insecurity. Whether an individual never knows where the money for sustenance will come from, or they live in a highly inaccessible "food desert" without a nearby place to procure food, feeding oneself and one's family is a daily and constant worry for millions of people.
As property prices continue to rise with no sign of stopping, and wages around the world fail to keep up with the ever-growing cost of living, housing becomes a bigger and bigger worry for people everywhere. Many impoverished people are unable to pay rent and live in constant fear of eviction. Any financial disturbance could be the difference between housed and homeless.
The sudden and unprecedented phenomenon of the COVID-19 pandemic was exactly the disturbance that pushed millions of people over the edge into poverty. Mass layoffs, evictions, and supply shortages proved particularly devastating for anyone living without a financial safety net. What's more, people living in or close to poverty were and still are at an exponentially higher risk of contraction and death from COVID.
Shades of discrimination have pushed other racial, religious, and social groups into poverty around the world. Famous instances such as apartheid in South Africa, the ghettos of Nazi Germany, and the annexation of Palestine only scratch the surface. The age-old caste system in India, indigenous discrimination in places like Japan and Australia, and widespread discrimination are also prominent drivers of poverty in their respective areas.
For comparison's sake, a household is considered "rich" by the World Data Lab if its cost-of-living surpasses US$120 per day, per person. As of 2022, there were 250 million rich people in the world, based on this definition.
There are also some startling discrepancies when dividing poverty by age. Children, already the most vulnerable members of our global community, are twice as likely to experience extreme poverty than adults. By some counts, children make up over half of all impoverished people around the world.
Wage gaps even within social classes are a prominent issue. Discriminatory wage discrepancies can be found nearly everywhere you look, whether based on race, or gender, leaving some groups at a higher risk of falling into poverty than others.
Viewing poverty statistics through the lens of gender reveals some truly worrisome trends. Due in varying degrees to discrimination within a family household, workplace discrimination, and often legal oppression, people outside of the cisgender and hetero binaries are at a far higher risk of poverty than their cisgender and/or hetero counterparts. In the United States alone, according to data from 2019, 22% of adults in the LGBTQ+ community are living in poverty, compared to 16% of the straight, cisgender population.
War can have serious financial consequences even thousands of miles away from combat zones. As the 2022 Ukraine conflict has shown, sanctions and embargoes, or other disruptions in the flow of critically important goods such as oil and wheat, can be felt across continents in the form of shortages and massive price hikes that are often too much for a person's already-precarious financial situation to withstand.
Direct, physical effects of violence such as the destruction of homes, workplaces, and public infrastructure is already enough to turn someone's life upside down, but the lasting effects of surviving a conflict, regardless of the outcome, can start a deep cycle of generational poverty. Regime changes or a rearranging of social and identity politics can render a once free citizen into a second-class citizen, denied the support and autonomy they once had. Any trauma or PTSD absorbed during conflict, whether as innocent civilians or as drafted members of the military, if gone untreated, can also leave a once-healthy individual unable to function in society unsupported.
Slipping into poverty isn't always a linear journey. Geopolitical events, wars, and other violent conflicts can plunge comfortable and secure middle class families and individuals into extreme poverty overnight.
For decades now, there has been near-constant talk of a "hollowing out" of middle classes across the globe. The lower classes have been steadily growing, despite global poverty generally decreasing since 1990, and there are more billionaires now than ever before.
Those with no means of relocation are left to survive in an increasingly hostile environment, regardless of droughts, monsoons, or failed crops. Governments around the world have proven time and time again that they don't have the capabilities of catching every person, or even most of the people, who falls through the cracks of poverty opened up by climate change. A World Bank study warned that the unchecked climate disaster could push another 100 million people into poverty by the end of the decade.
In 2015, the United Nations announced their 17 Development Goals, all to be completed by 2030. The first on the list is ending poverty in all its forms. It is a noble undertaking, but, especially considering the backtracking caused by COVID-19, most experts find this deadline concretely out of reach.
Access to proper education is, according to some experts, the single most important tool to help break the cycle of poverty. Proper education often leads to better job opportunities, and the structure of an education program helps prevent otherwise unsupervised and unentertained children from falling under negative influences or losing sight of the few opportunities available to them.
That isn't to say there is literally no way to end poverty. In fact, many people have the power and assets to end it. No single person has the means to end poverty, but if only two in particular, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, decided to put their wallets together in the name of the greater good, there would be more than enough money to meet the estimated US$384 billion it would take to eradicate poverty.
Additionally, there are numerous companies who could write off world poverty with a signature. In 2022, Walmart's net revenue totaled over US$600 billion. As with many of the world's most pressing humanitarian issues, poverty isn't a matter of scarcity, but rather a matter of poor distribution. For example, enough food is thrown away or wasted every year to sufficiently feed every single person on the planet twice over. These problems can be fixed with widespread structural changes and the cooperation of global powers.
That cooperation, however, is hard to come by. Partially by design and partially by accident, classist sentiments have permeated throughout global society. Misdirected individualism and finger-pointing has painted poverty as a choice made by those affected, rather than a social sickness that infects the vulnerable. Media groups and personalities that equate poverty with laziness have convinced millions of people to turn their backs on their fellow kin.
In addition to the disdain and distractions, poverty has also become a part of society accepted as an unfortunate inevitability by many, if not most, people. The normalization of poverty is a dark and dangerous step backwards. If we are to truly dedicate ourselves to the eradication of poverty and the lifting up of our fellow human beings, it is paramount that we not grow numb to the signs of poverty on our streets and in our backyards.
See also: The worst financial crises the world has ever seen
Despite the best efforts of egalitarian organizations such as the Red Cross, UNICEF, and others, poverty has failed to become a priority for many countries. Louder, brighter, and more immediate issues such as war, internal politics, and clashes of ideologies amongst the powerful upper clashes take up most of the energy of governments and gentry around the world, while those in poverty continue to suffer quietly.
Throughout history, poverty has been manufactured by oppressive powers around the world. In the United States, a long history of segregationist and discriminatory policies such as redlining, blockbusting, and gerrymandering created ghettos in urban areas across the country. The entirely intentional creation of these underfunded, underserved, and underrepresented areas sequestered myriad groups of racial minorities from the public infrastructure and opportunities so abundant in the rest of the nation.
The World Bank's international poverty line, which is widely accepted throughout the world, defines poverty by an individual's cost-of-living per day. As of September 2022, the extreme poverty line is set at US$2.15 per day.
The climate crisis that seems to get worse by the hour has had a devastating impact on poverty across the world. Once-reliable agricultural areas have dried up, leaving communities who have been settled and self-sustaining for generations to fend for themselves, and increasingly common natural catastrophes destroy countless homes and assets every year.
One of the largest, most widespread, and most persistent problems of humanity, one that touches every corner of every nation in the world, is the problem of poverty. People have lived in destitute situations since the dawn of civilization, and while it has always been a matter of great importance in the journey towards a just and developed human world, it has been largely ignored or, in many cases, promoted, by world powers throughout history who consider the only way forward to be over the heads of others. Hundreds of millions of people around the world still live in poverty, suffering from hunger, homelessness, discrimination, and countless other hardships that have made life far harder than it has to be for many of our fellow humans.
Read on to learn more facts about the global pandemic of poverty and why we cannot allow it to continue.
Global poverty: an unstable truth
Key facts and figures illustrating why fighting poverty is essential
LIFESTYLE Social issues
One of the largest, most widespread, and most persistent problems of humanity, one that touches every corner of every nation in the world, is the problem of poverty. People have lived in destitute situations since the dawn of civilization, and while it has always been a matter of great importance in the journey towards a just and developed human world, it has been largely ignored or, in many cases, promoted, by world powers throughout history who consider the only way forward to be over the heads of others. Hundreds of millions of people around the world still live in poverty, suffering from hunger, homelessness, discrimination, and countless other hardships that have made life far harder than it has to be for many of our fellow humans.
Read on to learn more facts about the global pandemic of poverty and why we cannot allow it to continue.