10th Unit 5 - Informational Writing on Human Rights Issues: Poverty

MAIN IDEAS

• Poverty exists when a person does not have the resources to meet basic necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter. The international poverty line is the minimum level of resources needed to meet these needs.
• Causes of poverty worldwide include inadequate access to healthy food and clean drinking water, low levels of employment opportunity, conflict, economic and social inequality, and poor education infrastructure.
• People who earn less than 50 percent of their country's national median income are typically considered to live in relative poverty.
• Five countries account for about half of all people living in absolute poverty worldwide: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh. Regions most affected by poverty include South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Poverty rates have declined globally in the twenty-first century but have increased in certain areas, particularly where there is political instability, conflict and violence, or economic mismanagement.
• Health problems are more common among people living in absolute poverty. These populations have increased exposure to diseases and lack access to proper sanitation and health care.
• Multidimensional poverty indices take into account a person's access to education, health care, and other resources in addition to their income and wealth.
• Global crises like climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have created new challenges and complicated efforts to alleviate poverty and generate shared prosperity.