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(Omitted for security),
Illinois is generally considered an affluent community with upper middle
class citizens. However, in Lake County alone the percentage of the
population in poverty is 6.4%, according to the United States Census
Bureau. This is a frightening reality for not only the thousands of
poverty stricken citizens in Lake County, but for millions around the
world. More recently, poverty has been on the rise, specifically in areas
such as New Orleans devastated by natural disaster. The problem with
poverty around the world is not only the obvious; it is something that
will be a problem for generations to come. A child born into poverty is
extremely unlikely to receive a good education, making it extremely
unlikely they themselves will be able to rise above the poverty line. This
problem affects an estimated 21% of people around the world today,
according to the World Bank. While this is down significantly from
previous years, where it has been up to 40%, the World Bank defines
poverty as people living with under $1 a day. $1 a day is not a decent
living by any means, nor an income that can be deemed survivable in any
society. Clearly poverty is one of the foremost problems facing the world
today, and if trends continue, it will remain so for many years to come.
The inherent problem with global poverty is the fact that
those above the poverty line end up paying for those below it. The money
to do so often comes straight out of the pocket of the working class
citizens, making poverty a problem for many more people than the 21% on
the official statistic. The problem is greatly inflated in third world
nations, where the general population is unable to pay for those even less
fortunate than them. Thus, in these nations, poverty often leads to other
global problems such as starvation and disease. The question, then, is not
whether or not poverty is a problem of epidemic proportions, but instead
how to fix it. Currently, the solution is unclear. Many Western nations
have put billions of their own dollars to combat poverty thousands of
miles away, often while neglecting the problem in their own nations.
Therefore, the philosophy behind combating poverty appears to need a major
overhaul. An ideal solution, at least temporarily, is to create a central
organization dedicated to combat the problem. This organization would
likely be funded by more affluent nations, or perhaps the United Nations,
and would provide centralized support to combat global poverty. The main
focus of this organization should be the education of the next generation,
in order to combat poverty at its roots. If the next generation of young
people are given the tools to succeed, and allowed to do so, then poverty
will no longer be such a permanent problem. There are many such solutions
to global poverty, however, until they are implemented on a wide scale,
poverty will continue to be one of the most critical problems of our time.
Sources: World Bank, United
States Census Bureau |
