Introduction
Poverty is a challenge that has for ages affected our country and the entire world. Although our nation is perceived to be one of the most economically stable nations around the globe, a good fraction of the overall population still lives in abject poverty. In most cases, poverty refers to the lack of primary needs in life, such as clothing, food, education, and shelter. As such, for a person to experience what is considered a normal life, physical, social, and emotional needs must be met (Brady 155). Although numerous organizations like the hunger project have been formed with the primary goal of providing solutions to fight the worrying trend of poverty, the challenge of poverty persists in several developing nations. This paper aims at discussing the causes and effects associated with poverty.
The causes of poverty are highly linked to factors like natural disasters, social injustices, political instability, and increased rate of discrimination. However, the primary cause of poverty is the lack of adequate opportunity and discrimination. Everybody in the country has the right to proper education; the effective education of the citizens leads to them being exposed to unlimited employment opportunities, which can, in turn, aid in fighting poverty (Brady 162). Consequently, numerous nations around the world are investing heavily in their education system to provide affordable and quality education to citizens with low incomes. Nonetheless, political instability has a significant connection to the levels of poverty in a particular country. Unconducive political environment often results in a country being less productive, and job creation greatly affected due to low investments in the country. For this reason, states like Iraq have, for a long time, remained to be among the globe's most impoverished nations.
Furthermore, the existence of natural disasters such as hurricanes has resulted in many people being homeless while others lose their businesses and assets. For instance, farmers significantly depend on farming, the occurrence of drought, or floods adversely influence their income source leading to poverty. Nevertheless, discrimination has dramatically contributed to the increasing number of workers who settled for low wages since most do not possess legal documents (Brady 170). For example, in most countries, immigrants are offered low salaries and subjected to poor work conditions. They are extensively exploited since the employers know the probability of them quitting the job is low.
Poverty has very severe impacts on both the country and the individuals who live in poverty. Poverty plays a critical role in increasing the number of criminal activities within a country, youth who live in poverty engage in illegal activities such as robbery with violence in an attempt to make ends meet (Lee and Euijune, 111). Moreover, poverty significantly contributes to moral decadence within the society; prostitution is on the rise, particularly by men and women who live in abject poverty.
Conclusion
Poverty has drastically led to the poor health status of various individuals within the world. In most instances, people who live in poverty are not able to access proper medication due to high expenses (Lee and Euijune, 108). Furthermore, domestic violence has considerably increased due to poverty; numerous research has linked the trend to stress often brought about by the inability to carter for the expenses of the family. Also, the financial crisis has immensely contributed to depression and suicide deaths among families.
