To me, it is almost an embarrassment to know that despite the United States being such a devloped and an industrial nation, we have an extremely high rate of poverty.
The Gini Index specifically measures a degree of income inequality. This index measurement was created by Corrando Gini, an Italian economist. It is created by plotting a family or individual's income against the number of individuals (from the lowest income to the highest). The score is in-between 0 and 1, 0 meaning everyone is equally well off, and 1 the rich have it all and the poor have nothing. The usual distribution type is between 0.20 and 0.30 and anything greater than 0.50 means that the economy has too much of a gap between the rich and the poor and there needs to be serious improvement. In 2004, the Uniter States scores a 0.47. Everything I have mentioned above definitely gives me an update to my original question #4. The US is definitely handling it terribly.
Many who are facing poverty or are already in poverty face capability failure. Capability failure is the inability to fully participate in society because the poor lack basic capabilities.
In 2001, Africa had the highest level of poverty (50%).
Extreme poverty is seen in those that cannot meet even the most basic need of survival, and they're living on approximately $1 a day. This level of extreme poverty can be seen in 23.4% of the world's population, which equates to be between 1.1 and 1.2 million people.
Moderate poverty means that you live on $1-$2 a day. With this income, their basic needs are met, but only barely. This level of poverty affects 10% of the world's population.
Nearly half of the world's 6 billion people suffer from some form of poverty, either extreme, moderate, or relative.
The second half of my blog directly answers questions #1 and #2. People who are poor are those who are making anywhere from less than $1 up to $2 for the entire day. In my original post, I cited $1.25 as a amount that a family could live off in a day. I see from this lesson that it is possible, but it won't go as far as I once imagined.
What can we do?
Jeffery Sach's has listed five interventions for impoverished countries:
1. Boosting agriculture
2. Improving basic health
3. Investing in education
4. Providing electric power
5.Providing clean water and sanitation
The UN has Millennium Project Goals
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDs, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Which of these goals do you think are most important?
This blog really makes you realize how backwards our country is. It seems as though you did a lot of research and read the powerpoints carefully. I like how detailed your blogs are and how honest you are.
ReplyDeleteOut of the 8 goals, the one that is most important to me is goal 1 because it kills me to think about how many people in the world have no food when I have a pack of oreos sitting next to my bed. I also feel that ending extreme hunger and poverty will reduce goal 4, child mortality, but in reality all the goals are extremely important and really tie in with each other. One affects the other.