A boy from Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. Jakarta (also DKI Jakarta) is the Capital and largest city of Indonesia. The Republic of Indonesia ( (Republik Indonesia is a Country in Southeast Asia.

Poverty (also called penury) is deprivation of those things that determine the quality of life, including food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water, but also "intangibles" such as the opportunity to learn and to enjoy the respect of fellow citizens. Water of sufficient quality to serve as drinking water is termed potable water whether it is used for drinking or not Ongoing debates over causes, effects and best ways to measure poverty, directly influence the design and implementation of poverty-reduction programs and are therefore relevant to the fields of international development and public administration. Poverty reduction (or poverty alleviation) is any process which seeks to reduce the level of Poverty in a community or amongst a group of people or countries This article is about international development See the closely related concept of development cooperation. Public administration can be broadly described as the development implementation and study of branches of government Policy.

Although poverty is generally considered to be undesirable due to the pain and suffering it may cause, in certain spiritual contexts "voluntary poverty," involving the renunciation of material goods, is seen by some as virtuous. Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals choose to minimize the 'more-is-better' pursuit of Wealth and consumption.

Poverty may affect individuals or groups, and is not confined to the developing nations. Developing countries are countries that haven't reached Western-style standards of democratic government free market economy industrialization social programs and human rights guaranties Poverty in developed countries is manifest in a set of social problems including homelessness and the persistence of "ghetto" housing clusters. The term developed country, or advanced country, is used to categorize countries with developed Economies in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors Homelessness is the condition and social category of people who lack housing because they cannot afford or are otherwise unable to maintain regular safe and adequate shelter A ghetto is described as a "portion of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social legal or economic pressure ^[1]

Measuring poverty

Main article: Measuring poverty

World map showing percentage of population suffering from hunger, World Food Programme, 2006

World map showing percentage of population living on less than 1 dollar per day. Although the most severe Poverty is in the Developing world, there is evidence of poverty in every region UN estimates 1990-2005. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security

CIA world map showing percentage of population living below their national poverty line.

World map showing life expectancy. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age

World map showing the Human Development Index. The Human Development Index ( HDI) is an index combining normalized measures of Life expectancy, Literacy, Educational attainment, and GDP

World map showing the Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality. The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth Economic inequality refers to disparities in the distribution of Economic Assets and Income.

The percentage of the world's population living on less than $1 per day has halved in twenty years. However, most of this improvement has occurred in East and South Asia. The graph shows the 1981-2001 period.

Life expectancy has been increasing and converging for most of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa has recently seen a decline, partly related to the AIDS epidemic. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ( AIDS) has led to the deaths of more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, making it one of Graph shows the years 1950-2005.

A homeless Frenchman in Paris. Homelessness is the condition and social category of people who lack housing because they cannot afford or are otherwise unable to maintain regular safe and adequate shelter Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city

Poverty can be measured in terms of absolute or relative poverty. The poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of Income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate Standard of living in a given country The poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of Income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate Standard of living in a given country Absolute poverty refers to a set standard which is consistent over time and between countries. An example of an absolute measurement would be the percentage of the population eating less food than is required to sustain the human body (approximately 2000-2500 calories per day for an adult male). This article is about the unit of energy For its use in Nutrition and Food labelling regulations, see the article on Food energy.

The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than US$ (PPP) 1 per day, and moderate poverty as less than $2 a day, estimating that "in 2001, 1. The World Bank Group (WBG is a family of five International organizations responsible for providing Finance and advice to countries for the purposes of economic Extreme poverty is the most severe state of Poverty. Many cannot meet basic needs for Food, Water, Shelter, Sanitation, and Health The purchasing power parity ( PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium Exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their Purchasing power. 1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2. 7 billion lived on less than $2 a day. " ^[2] The proportion of the developing world's population living in extreme economic poverty fell from 28 percent in 1990 to 21 percent in 2001. Developing countries are countries that haven't reached Western-style standards of democratic government free market economy industrialization social programs and human rights guaranties ^[2] Looking at the period 1981-2001, the percentage of the world's population living on less than $1 per day has halved.

However, most of this improvement has occurred in East and South Asia. ^[3] In East Asia the World Bank reports that "The poverty headcount rate at the $2-a-day level is estimated to have fallen to about 27 percent, down from 29. 5 percent in 2006 and 69 percent in 1990. "^[4]

In Sub-Saharan Africa GDP/capita shrank by 14 percent and extreme poverty increased from 41 percent in 1981 to 46 percent in 2001, increasing the number of people living in poverty from 231 million to 318 million. Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries ^[5]

Other regions have seen little change. In the early 1990s the transition economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia experienced a sharp drop in income. Eastern Europe is a general term that refers to the Geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the European continent. Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east and from southern Russia in the north to northern Pakistan in the south Poverty rates rose to 6 percent at the end of the decade before beginning to recede. ^[6]

World Bank data shows that the percentage of the population living in households with consumption or income per person below the poverty line has decreased in each region of the world since 1999: ^[7][8]

There are various criticisms of these measurements. ^[9] Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion note that although "a clear trend decline in the percentage of people who are absolutely poor is evident, although with uneven progress across regions. . . the developing world outside China and India has seen little or no sustained progress in reducing the number of poor". However, since the world's population has increased, if instead looking at the percentage living on less than $1/day, and if excluding China and India, then this percentage has decreased from 31. 35% to 20. 70% between 1981 and 2004. ^[10]

Other human development indicators are also improving. Life expectancy has greatly increased in the developing world since WWII and is starting to close the gap to the developed world where the improvement has been smaller. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Even in Sub-Saharan Africa, where most Least Developed Countries are to be found, life expectancy increased from 30 years before World War II to a peak of about 50 years, before the HIV pandemic and other diseases started to force it down to the current level of 47 years. Least Developed Countries ( LDCs or Fourth World countries are Countries which according to the United Nations exhibit the lowest Child mortality has decreased in every developing region of the world^[11]. Child mortality refers to the death of infants and children under the age of five The proportion of the world's population living in countries where per-capita food supplies are less than 2,200 calories (9,200 kilojoules) per day decreased from 56% in the mid-1960s to below 10% by the 1990s. The joule (written in lower case ˈdʒuːl or /ˈdʒaʊl/ (symbol J) is the SI unit of Energy measuring heat, Electricity Between 1950 and 1999, global literacy increased from 52% to 81% of the world. Women made up much of the gap: Female literacy as a percentage of male literacy has increased from 59% in 1970 to 80% in 2000. The percentage of children not in the labor force has also risen to over 90% in 2000 from 76% in 1960. There are similar trends for electric power, cars, radios, and telephones per capita, as well as the proportion of the population with access to clean water. ^[12] The book The Improving State of the World finds that many other indicators have also improved. The Improving State of the World Why We're Living Longer Healthier More Comfortable Lives On a Cleaner Planet is a 2007 book by Indur M

Relative poverty views poverty as socially defined and dependent on social context. The social environment (context, also known as the Milieu, is the identical or similar Social positions and Social roles as a whole that influence the individuals Income inequality is a relative measure of poverty. A relative measurement would be to compare the total wealth of the poorest one-third of the population with the total wealth of richest 1% of the population. There are several different income inequality metrics. Income inequality metrics or income distribution metrics are techniques used by economists to measure the distribution of Income and Economic inequality One example is the Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth

Income inequality for the world as a whole is diminishing. Economic inequality refers to disparities in the distribution of Economic Assets and Income. A 2002 study by Xavier Sala-i-Martin finds that this is driven mainly, but not fully, by the extraordinary growth rate of the incomes of the 1. Xavier Sala-i-Martin (b Cabrera de Mar, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, 1963) is a Spanish Catalan Professor 2 billion Chinese citizens. However, unless Africa achieves economic growth, then China, India, the OECD and the rest of middle-income and rich countries will increase their relative advantage, and global inequality will rise. ^[13][14]

The 2007 World Bank report "Global Economic Prospects" predicts that in 2030 the number living on less than the equivalent of $1 a day will fall by half, to about 550 million. An average resident of what we used to call the Third World will live about as well as do residents of the Czech or Slovak republics today. However, much of Africa will have difficulty keeping pace with the rest of the developing world and even if conditions there improve in absolute terms, the report warns, Africa in 2030 will be home to a larger proportion of the world's poorest people than it is today. ^[15] However, economic growth has increased rapidly in Africa after the year 2000. ^[16]

In many developed countries the official definition of poverty used for statistical purposes is based on relative income. As such many critics argue that poverty statistics measure inequality rather than material deprivation or hardship. For instance, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, 46% of those in "poverty" in the U. S. own their own home (with the average poor person's home having three bedrooms, with one and a half baths, and a garage). ^[17] Furthermore, the measurements are usually based on a person's yearly income and frequently take no account of total wealth. The main poverty line used in the OECD and the European Union is based on "economic distance", a level of income set at 50% of the median household income. The poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of Income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate Standard of living in a given country The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The US poverty line is more arbitrary. It was created in 1963-64 and was based on the dollar costs of the United States Department of Agriculture's "economy food plan" multiplied by a factor of three. The multiplier was based on research showing that food costs then accounted for about one third of the total money income. This one-time calculation has since been annually updated for inflation. ^[18] Others, such as economist Ellen Frank, argue that the poverty measure is too low as families spend much less of their total budget on food than they did when the measure was established. Further, federal poverty statistics do not account for the widely varying regional differences in non-food costs such as housing, transport, and utilities. ^[19]

Other aspects

Economic aspects of poverty may focus on material needs, typically including the necessities of daily living, such as food, clothing, shelter, or safe drinking water. Food is any substance usually composed primarily of Carbohydrates Fats water and/or Proteins that can be eaten or drunk by an Water of sufficient quality to serve as drinking water is termed potable water whether it is used for drinking or not Poverty in this sense may be understood as a condition in which a person or community is lacking in the basic needs for a minimum standard of well-being and life, particularly as a result of a persistent lack of income. The basic needs approach is one of the major approaches to the measurement of Absolute poverty.

Analysis of social aspects of poverty links conditions of scarcity to aspects of the distribution of resources and power in a society and recognizes that poverty may be a function of the diminished "capability" of people to live the kinds of lives they value. ^[20] The social aspects of poverty may include lack of access to information, education, health care, or political power. Information access is an area of Informatics and Library science which concerns ensuring free and open access to Information. Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency Health care is the prevention treatment and management of illness and the preservation of mental health through the services offered by the medical, Nursing Political power ( Imperium in Latin is a type of power held by a group in a Society which allows administration of some or all of ^[21][22] Poverty may also be understood as an aspect of unequal social status and inequitable social relationships, experienced as social exclusion, dependency, and diminished capacity to participate, or to develop meaningful connections with other people in society. In Sociology or Anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in Society (one's Social position) ^[23][24][25]

The World Bank's "Voices of the Poor," based on research with over 20,000 poor people in 23 countries, identifies a range of factors which poor people identify as part of poverty. ^[26] These include:

• precarious livelihoods
• excluded locations
• physical limitations
• gender relationships
• problems in social relationships
• lack of security
• abuse by those in power
• disempowering institutions
• limited capabilities, and
• weak community organizations.

David Moore, in his book The World Bank, argues that some analyses of poverty reflect pejorative, sometimes racial, stereotypes of impoverished people as powerless victims and passive recipients of aid programs. ^[27]

Causes of poverty

A starving female child during the Nigerian-Biafran war of the late 1960s. The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War, 6 July 1967 &ndash 13 January 1970 was a political conflict caused by the attempted Secession The abdomen is paradoxically swollen due to Kwashiorkor or severe protein malnutrition. Kwashiorkor is a type of malnutrition with controversial causes but it is commonly believed to be caused by insufficient protein intake

Urban poverty is common in developing countries. Shown here is Mumbai, India. Mumbai ( Marathi:,, IPA: formerly Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the financial India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country

Many different factors have been cited to explain why poverty occurs. However, no single explanation has gained universal acceptance.

Possible factors include:

Environmental Factors

• Erosion. Erosion is the carrying away or displacement of solids ( Sediment, Soil, rock and other particles usually by the agents of currents such as wind Intensive farming often leads to a vicious cycle of exhaustion of soil fertility and decline of agricultural yields and thence increased poverty. ^[28]
• Desertification and overgrazing. Desertification is the degradation of land in arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting primarily from human activities and influenced by climatic variations Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to Livestock Grazing for extended periods of time or without sufficient recovery periods ^[29] Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. ^[30] In Africa, if current trends of soil degradation continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa. The (UNU is an agency of the United Nations established in Tokyo in 1973 to "research into the pressing global problems of human survival development ^[31]
• Deforestation as exemplified by the widespread rural poverty in China that began in the early 20th century and is attributed to non-sustainable tree harvesting. Deforestation is the conversion of Forested areas to non-forest land for use such as Arable land, Pasture, urban use logged area or wasteland ^[32]
• Natural factors such as the climate change^[33] or environment^[34]
• Geographic factors, for example access to fertile land, fresh water, minerals, energy, and other natural resources. Climate change is any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences Environmental science is the study of interactions among physical chemical and biological components of the environment. Geography (from Greek γεωγραφία - geografia) is the study of the Earth and its lands features inhabitants and phenomena Presence or absence of natural features helping or limiting communication, such as mountains, deserts, sailable rivers, or coastline. Historically, geography has prevented or slowed the spread of new technology to areas such as the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa. The climate also limits what crops and farm animals may be used on similarly fertile lands. ^[35]
• On the other hand, research on the resource curse has found that countries with an abundance of natural resources creating quick wealth from exports tend to have less long-term prosperity than countries with less of these natural resources. The resource curse (also the paradox of plenty) refers to the Paradox that countries and regions with an abundance of Natural resources specifically point-source Natural resources are naturally occurring substances that are considered valuable in their relatively unmodified ( natural) form
• Drought and water crisis. A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply Water Crisis is a term that refers to the status of the world’s Water resources relative to human demand ^[36][37][38]

Economics

• Unemployment. Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work but the person is without work.
• As of late 2007, increased farming for use in biofuels,^[39] along with world oil prices at nearly $100 a barrel,^[40] has pushed up the price of grain. This article is about the price of crude oil see Gasoline usage and pricing for information about derivative motor fuels ^[41] Food riots have recently taken place in many countries across the world. The years 2007–2008 saw dramatic rises in world food prices creating a global crisis and causing political and economical instability and social unrest in ^[42][43][44]
• Capital flight by which the wealthy in a society shift their assets to off-shore tax havens deprives nations of revenue needed to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Capital flight, in Economics, occurs when Assets and/or Money rapidly flow out of a Country, due to an economic event that disturbs Investors A tax haven is a place where certain Taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all ^[45]
• Weakly entrenched formal systems of title to private property are seen by writers such as Hernando de Soto as a limit to economic growth and therefore a cause of poverty. ^[46]
• Communists see the institution of property rights itself as a cause of poverty. ^[47]
• Unfair terms of trade, in particular, the very high subsidies to and protective tariffs for agriculture in the developed world. In Economics, a subsidy (also known as a subvention is a form of financial assistance paid to a business or economic sector For other uses of this word see Tariff (disambiguation. A tariff is a tax imposed on goods when they are moved across a political boundary Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture This drains the taxed money and increases the prices for the consumers in developed world; decreases competition and efficiency; prevents exports by more competitive agricultural and other sectors in the developed world due to retaliatory trade barriers; and undermines the very type of industry in which the developing countries do have comparative advantages. A trade barrier is a general term that describes any government policy or regulation that restricts International trade. In international trade the principle of comparative advantage refers to the fact that although one country may have an absolute disadvantage with another value can be created for both ^[48]
• Tax havens which tax their own citizens and companies but not those from other nations and refuse to disclose information necessary for foreign taxation. A tax haven is a place where certain Taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all This enables large scale political corruption, tax evasion, and organized crime in the foreign nations. Tax avoidance is the legal utilization of the Tax regime to one's own advantage in order to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law "Crime syndicate" redirects here For the DC Comics group of villains see Crime Syndicate. ^[45]
• Unequal distribution of land. ^[49] Land reform is one solution. Land reforms (also Agrarian reform, though that can have a broader meaning is an often- controversial alteration in the societal arrangements whereby government

Health Care

• Poor access to affordable health care makes individuals less resilient to economic hardship and more vulnerable to poverty. ^[50]
• Inadequate nutrition in childhood, itself an effect of poverty, undermines the ability of individuals to develop their full human capabilities and thus makes them more vulnerable to poverty. Lack of essential minerals such as iodine and iron can impair brain development. Iodine (ˈaɪədaɪn ˈaɪədɪn or /ˈaɪədiːn/ from ιώδης iodes "violet" is a Chemical element that has the symbol I and Atomic Iron (ˈаɪɚn is a Chemical element with the symbol Fe (ferrum and Atomic number 26 The study of neural development draws on both Neuroscience and Developmental biology to describe the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which complex Nervous It is estimated that 2 billion people (one-third of the total global population) are affected by iodine deficiency, including 285 million 6- to 12-year-old children. Iodine is an essential Trace element; the Thyroid hormones Thyroxine and Triiodotyronine contain iodine In developing countries, it is estimated that 40% of children aged 4 and under suffer from anemia because of insufficient iron in their diets. See also Health and intelligence. Health and intelligence are two closely-related aspects of human well-being ^[51]
• Disease, specifically diseases of poverty: AIDS,^[52] malaria^[53], and tuberculosis and others overwhelmingly afflict developing nations, which perpetuate poverty by diverting individual, community, and national health and economic resources from investment and productivity. An infectious disease is a clinically evident Disease resulting from the presence of Pathogenic microbial agents including Pathogenic viruses Pathogenic Diseases of Poverty are Diseases that are more Prevalent among "the poor" than among wealthier people Malaria is a vector -borne Infectious disease caused by Protozoan Parasites It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions including Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common ^[54] Further, many tropical nations are affected by parasites like malaria, schistosomiasis, and trypanosomiasis that are not present in temperate climates. The Tropics are centered on the Equator and limited in Latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere at approximately 23°26' (23 Parasitism is a type of symbiotic relationship between Organisms of different Species. Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia, bilharziosis or snail fever) is a Parasitic disease caused by several species of fluke Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis is the name of several diseases in Vertebrates caused by parasitic Protozoan Trypanosomes of the genus The Tsetse fly makes it very difficult to use many animals in agriculture in afflicted regions. This page is about the insect For other meanings see Tsetse (disambiguation.
• Clinical depression undermines the resilience of individuals and when not properly treated makes them vulnerable to poverty. Major depressive disorder, also known as major depression, unipolar depression, unipolar disorder, clinical depression, or simply depression ^[55]
• Similarly substance abuse, including for example alcoholism and drug abuse when not properly treated undermines resilience and can consign people to vicious poverty cycles. Substance abuse is the overindulgence in and dependence of a Drug or other chemical leading to effects that are detrimental to the individual's physical and mental health Alcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions Drug abuse has a wide range of definitions related to taking a Psychoactive drug or Performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect ^[56]

Governance

• Lacking democracy in poor countries: "The records when we look at social dimensions of development—access to drinking water, girls' literacy, health care—are even more starkly divergent. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system For example, in terms of life expectancy, poor democracies typically enjoy life expectancies that are nine years longer than poor autocracies. Opportunities of finishing secondary school are 40 percent higher. Infant mortality rates are 25 percent lower. Agricultural yields are about 25 percent higher, on average, in poor democracies than in poor autocracies—an important fact, given that 70 percent of the population in poor countries is often rural-based. ""poor democracies don't spend any more on their health and education sectors as a percentage of GDP than do poor autocracies, nor do they get higher levels of foreign assistance. They don't run up higher levels of budget deficits. They simply manage the resources that they have more effectively. " [12]
• The governance effectiveness of governments has a major impact on the delivery of socioeconomic outcomes for poor populations^[57]
• Weak rule of law can discourage investment and thus perpetuate poverty. The rule of law, in its most basic form is the principle that no one is above the law ^[58]
• Poor management of resource revenues can mean that rather than lifting countries out of poverty, revenues from such activities as oil production or gold mining actually leads to a resource curse. The resource curse (also the paradox of plenty) refers to the Paradox that countries and regions with an abundance of Natural resources specifically point-source
• Failure by governments to provide essential infrastructure worsens poverty. Infrastructure typically refers to the technical structures that support a society such as Roads Water supply, Wastewater, Power grids ^[50][59].
• Poor access to affordable education traps individuals and countries in cycles of poverty. Education encompasses both the Teaching and Learning of Knowledge, proper conduct, and technical competency ^[50]
• High levels of corruption undermine efforts to make a sustainable impact on poverty. Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain In Nigeria, for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999. Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal ^[60][61]

Demographics and Social Factors

• Overpopulation and lack of access to birth control methods. Overpopulation refers to a condition where an Organism 's numbers exceed the Carrying capacity of its Habitat. Birth control, sometimes synonymous with contraception, is a regimen of one or more actions devices or Medications followed in order to deliberately prevent ^[62][63] Note that population growth slows or even become negative as poverty is reduced due to the demographic transition. Population growth is the change in Population over time and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals in a population using "per unit time" for The Demographic transition model (DTM is a model used to explain the process of shift from high Birth rates and high Death rates to low birth rates and low death rates ^[64]
• Crime, both white-collar crime and blue-collar crime, including violent gangs and drug cartels. In the sociological field, crime is the breach of a rule or Law for which some governing authority or force may ultimately prescribe a Punishment Within the field of Criminology, white-collar crime or 'incorporated governance' has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability In Criminology, blue-collar crime is any crime committed by an individual from a lower Social class as opposed to White-collar crime which is associated Gangsters redirects here For the computer game see Gangsters (video game. Drug cartels are Criminal organizations developed with the primary purpose of promoting and controlling drug trafficking operations ^[65][66][67]
• Historical factors, for example imperialism, colonialism^[68][69][70] and communism (at least 50 million children in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union live in poverty). History is the study of the past particularly the written record Those who study history as a Profession are called Historians Etymology Imperialism has two meanings one describing an action and the other describing an attitude See Colony and Colonization for examples of colonialism which do not refer to Western colonialism Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based During the Cold War, the term Communist Bloc (or Soviet Bloc) was used to refer to the Soviet Union and countries it either controlled or that were The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 ^[71][72]
• Brain drain
• Matthew effect: the phenomenon, widely observed across advanced welfare states, that the middle classes tend to be the main beneficiaries of social benefits and services, even if these are primarily targeted at the poor. A brain drain or human capital flight is a large emigration of individuals with technical skills or knowledge, normally due to conflict, lack of opportunity The " Matthew effect " denotes the phenomenon that "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" and can be observed in various different contexts where "rich"
• Cultural causes, which attribute poverty to common patterns of life, learned or shared within a community. In biological terms a community is a group of interacting Organisms sharing an environment. For example, Max Weber argued that the Protestant work ethic contributed to economic growth during the industrial revolution. Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered The Protestant work ethic, sometimes called the Puritan work ethic, is a sociological theoretical concept The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the
• War, including civil war, genocide, and democide. War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units A civil war is a War between a State and domestic political actors that are in control of some part of the territory claimed by the state Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group Definition According to Rummel Genocide has three different meanings ^[73]
• Discrimination of various kinds, such as age discrimination, stereotyping,^[74] gender discrimination, racial discrimination, caste discrimination. Ageism is Stereotyping and Prejudice against individuals or groups because of their age A stereotype (from Greek: stereo + týpos = "solid impression" is a generalized perception of first impressions behaviors presumed by a group Sexism is the belief or attitude that one Gender or Sex is inferior to or less valuable than the other and can also refer to a Hatred or distrust towards List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that Castes are Hereditary systems of occupation, Endogamy, social culture, Social class, and Political power. ^[75]
• Individual beliefs, actions and choices. ^[76]

Effects of poverty

The effects of poverty may also be causes, as listed above, thus creating a "poverty cycle" operating across multiple levels, individual, local, national and global.

Those living in poverty and lacking access to essential health services, suffering hunger or even starvation,^[77] experience mental and physical health problems which make it harder for them to improve their situation. Hunger is a feeling experienced usually followed by a desire to Eat. Starvation (also called inanition) is a severe reduction in Vitamin, Nutrient, and Energy intake and is the most extreme form of ^[78] One third of deaths - some 18 million people a year or 50,000 per day - are due to poverty-related causes: in total 270 million people, most of them women and children, have died as a result of poverty since 1990. ^[79] Those living in poverty suffer lower life expectancy. Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age Every year nearly 11 million children living in poverty die before their fifth birthday. Those living in poverty often suffer from hunger. ^[80] 800 million people go to bed hungry every night. ^[81] Poverty increases the risk of homelessness. Homelessness is the condition and social category of people who lack housing because they cannot afford or are otherwise unable to maintain regular safe and adequate shelter ^[82] There are over 100 million street children worldwide. Street children is a term used to refer to children who live on the streets ^[83] Increased risk of drug abuse may also be associated with poverty. Drug abuse has a wide range of definitions related to taking a Psychoactive drug or Performance enhancing drug for a non-therapeutic or non-medical effect ^[84]

Diseases of poverty reflect the dynamic relationship between poverty and poor health; while such infectious diseases result directly from poverty, they also perpetuate and deepen impoverishment by sapping personal and national health and financial resources. Diseases of Poverty are Diseases that are more Prevalent among "the poor" than among wealthier people An infectious disease is a clinically evident Disease resulting from the presence of Pathogenic microbial agents including Pathogenic viruses Pathogenic For example, malaria decreases GDP growth by up to 1. Malaria is a vector -borne Infectious disease caused by Protozoan Parasites It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions including 3% in some developing nations, and by killing tens of millions in sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS alone threatens “the economies, social structures, and political stability of entire societies”. ^[85][86]

Those living in poverty in the developed world, may suffer social isolation and rates of suicide may increase in conditions of poverty. The term developed country, or advanced country, is used to categorize countries with developed Economies in which the tertiary and quaternary sectors Social isolation can contribute toward many emotional behavioural and physical disorders including anxiety panic attacks eating disorders addictions substance abuse violent behaviour Death of a breadwinner may decrease a household's resilience to poverty conditions and cause a dramatic worsening in their situation. Low income levels and poor employment opportunities for adults in turn create the conditions where households can depend on the income of child members. An estimated 218 million children aged 5 to 17 are in child labor worldwide, excluding child domestic labor. Child labor is the employment of Children at regular and sustained labour ^[87] Lacking viable employment opportunities those living in poverty may also engage in the informal economy, or in criminal activity, both of which may on a larger scale discourage investment in the economy, further perpetuating conditions of poverty.

Low income and wealth levels undermine the ability of governments to levy taxes for public service provision, adding to the 'vicious circle' connecting the causes and effects of poverty. Lack of essential infrastructure, poor education and health services, and poor sanitation contribute to the perpetuation of poverty. ^[88] Poor access to affordable public education can lead to low levels of literacy, further entrenching poverty. Weak public service provision and high levels of poverty can increase states' vulnerability to natural disasters and make states more vulnerable to shocks in the international economy, such as those associated with rising fuel prices, or declining commodity prices. A natural disaster is the consequence of a Natural hazard (eg ^[89][90]

Areas strongly affected by poverty tend to be more violent. In one survey, 67% of children from disadvantaged inner cities said they had witnessed a serious assault, and 33% reported witnessing a homicide. The inner city is the central area of a major city or metropolis ^[91] 51% of fifth graders from New Orleans (median income for a household: $27,133) have been found to be victims of violence, compared to 32% in Washington, DC (mean income for a household: $40,127). New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D ^[92]

The capacity of the state is further undermined by the problem that people living in poverty may be more vulnerable to extremist political persuasion, and may feel less loyalty to a state unable to deliver basic services. For these reasons conditions of poverty may increase the risk of political violence, terrorism, war and genocide, and may make those living in poverty vulnerable to human trafficking, internal displacement and exile as refugees. Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group Human trafficking is the recruitment transportation harbouring or receipt of people for the purposes of slavery forced labor (including bonded labor or debt bondage and servitude According to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race Countries suffering widespread poverty may experience loss of population, particularly in high-skilled professions, through emigration, which may further undermine their ability to improve their situation.

Poverty reduction

Main article: Poverty reduction

In politics, the fight against poverty is usually regarded as a social goal and many governments have institutions or departments dedicated to tackling poverty. Poverty reduction (or poverty alleviation) is any process which seeks to reduce the level of Poverty in a community or amongst a group of people or countries Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions One of the main debates in the field of poverty reduction is around the question of how actively the state should manage the economy and provide public services to tackle the problem of poverty. In the nineties, international development policies focused on a package of measures known and criticized as the "Washington Consensus" which involved reducing the scope of state activities, and reducing state intervention in the economy, reducing trade barriers and opening economies to foreign investment. The term Washington Consensus was initially coined in 1989 by John Williamson to describe a set of ten specific economic policy prescriptions that he considered to constitute Vigorous debate over these issues continues however, and most poverty reduction programs attempt to increase both the competitiveness of the economy and the viability of the state.

Economic growth

World GDP per capita rapidly increased beginning with the Industrial Revolution. Per capita is a Latin phrase meaning for each head with Per meaning 'through' or 'by' The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the

The anti-poverty strategy of the World Bank depends heavily on reducing poverty through the promotion of economic growth. The World Bank is an internationally supported Bank that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development programs (e Economic growth is the increase in the amount of the goods and services produced by an economy over time ^[93]. The World Bank argues that an overview of many studies shows that:

• Growth is fundamental for poverty reduction, and in principle growth as such does not affect inequality.
• Growth accompanied by progressive distributional change is better than growth alone.
• High initial income inequality is a brake on poverty reduction.
• Poverty itself is also likely to be a barrier for poverty reduction; and wealth inequality seems to predict lower future growth rates. ^[94]

Free market

What could broadly be called free market reforms represent one strategy for reducing poverty. A free market is a Market in which property rights are voluntarily exchanged at a price arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers For example, noted reductions in poverty in the 20th century have been in India and China, where hundreds of millions of people in the two countries grew out of poverty, mostly as a result of the abandonment of collective farming in China and the cutting of government red tape in India. Collective farming is an organization of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise This was critical in fostering their dramatic economic growth. ^[95] However, UN economists argue that for the market reforms to work, good infrastructure is needed, and for that the role of a strong state is important. For example, today, China is investing in railways, roads, ports and rural telephony in various African countries as part of its international strategy. ^[96]

The Global Competitiveness Report, the Ease of Doing Business Index, and the Index of Economic Freedom are annual reports, often used in academic research, ranking the worlds nations on factors argued to increase economic growth and reduce poverty. The Global Competitiveness Report is a yearly report published by the World Economic Forum. The Ease of Doing Business Index is an index created by the World Bank. The Index of Economic Freedom is a series of 10 economic measurements created by the Wall Street Journal and The Heritage Foundation to measure the degree of Economic freedom

Developing countries face a range of obstacles to trading competitively on international markets. Almost half of the budget of the European Union for example is directed to agricultural subsidies, which primarily benefit large multinational agribusinesses who form a powerful lobby. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in An agricultural subsidy is a governmental Subsidy paid to Farmers and Agribusinesses to supplement their income manage the supply of agricultural ^[97] Japan gave 47 billion dollars in 2005 in subsidies to its agricultural sector,^[98] nearly four times the amount it gave in total foreign aid. ^[99] The US gives 3. 9 billion dollars each year in subsidies to its cotton sector, including 25,000 growers, three times more in subsidies than the entire USAID budget for Africa, although America contributes a sum far larger than the 3. 9 billion dollars through other agencies. ^[100] Critics argue that agricultural subsidies in the developed world drain taxation revenue, increase the end-prices paid by consumers, and discourage efficiency improvements, while retaliatory trade barriers unfairly undermine the competitiveness of agricultural and other exports in those industries in which developing countries would otherwise have a significant comparative advantages. A trade barrier is a general term that describes any government policy or regulation that restricts International trade. In international trade the principle of comparative advantage refers to the fact that although one country may have an absolute disadvantage with another value can be created for both ^[48]

A now defunct theory for reducing poverty suggests that raising tariffs and import substitution leads to greater wealth by protecting the country from free trade. This theory was practiced highly between the 1950s and 1970s when it appeared to fail to develop wealth. The theory assumes a lack of trade barriers on incoming (often highly subsidized) goods from wealthier countries is also considered by some economists a driver of poverty. Most countries have some history of import substitution and direct government protection of and investment in local industries. Import Substitution Industrialization (also called ISI) is a Trade and economic Policy based on the premise that a Country should For the protectionist Australian political party from the 1880s to 1909 see Protectionist Party The theory claims that reducing tariff receipts can lower a major source of government revenue & spending, while raising tariffs may improve the terms of trade for the poor. For other uses of this word see Tariff (disambiguation. A tariff is a tax imposed on goods when they are moved across a political boundary In international Economics and International trade, terms of trade or TOT is the relative prices of a country's export to import ^[101] However, practice has shown that high tariffs lead to a stagnation of economic growth and development and the costs of the tariffs are borne most heavily on the poor. ^[102]

Fair trade

Further information: Fair trade

Another approach to alleviating poverty is to implement Fair Trade which advocates the payment of a fair price as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of goods. Fair trade is an organized Social movement and market-based approach to empowering developing country producers and promoting sustainability Fair trade is an organized Social movement and market-based approach to empowering developing country producers and promoting sustainability

Direct aid

• The government can directly help those in need through cash transfers as a short term expedient. This has been applied with mixed results in most Western societies during the 20th century in what became known as the welfare state. The term Western world, the West or the Occident ( Latin: occidens -sunset -west as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings This article refers specifically to the Welfare state of the United Kingdom. Especially for those most at risk, such as the elderly and people with disabilities.
• Private charity. Etymology The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word " charité " which was derived from the Systems to encourage direct transfers to the poor by citizens organised into voluntary or not-for-profit groupings are often encouraged by the state through charitable trusts and tax deduction arrangements. A charitable trust is a trust established for charitable purposes and is a more specific term than " charitable organisation "

Development aid

Most developed nations give development aid to developing countries. Development aid or development cooperation (also development assistance, technical assistance, international aid, overseas aid Developing countries are countries that haven't reached Western-style standards of democratic government free market economy industrialization social programs and human rights guaranties The UN target for development aid is 0. 7% of GDP; currently only a few nations achieve this. Some think tanks and NGOs have argued, however, that Western monetary aid often only serves to increase poverty and social inequality, either because it is conditioned with the implementation of harmful economic policies in the recipient countries ^[103], or because it's tied with the importing of products from the donor country over cheaper alternatives,^[104] or because foreign aid is seen to be serving the interests of the donor more than the recipient. A think tank (also called a policy institute) is an organization institute corporation or group that conducts Research and engages in advocacy in areas such ^[105] Critics also argue that some of the foreign aid is stolen by corrupt governments and officials, and that higher aid levels erode the quality of governance. Policy becomes much more oriented toward what will get more aid money than it does towards meeting the needs of the people. ^[106] Victor Bout, one of the worlds most notorious arms dealers, told the New York Times how he saw firsthand in Angola, Congo and elsewhere "how Western donations to impoverished countries lead to the destruction of social and ecological balance, mutual resentment and eventually war. Viktor Anatolyevich Bout (Виктор Анатольевич Бут (born 13 January 1967 near Dushanbe, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union) is a Soviet The arms industry is a global Industry and Business which Manufactures and sells Weapons and Military technology and equipment. Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central "^[107] "Once countries give money, they control you. " he says.

Supporters argue that these problems may be solved with better auditing of how the aid is used. The most general definition of an audit is an evaluation of a person organization system process project or product ^[106] Aid from non-governmental organizations may be more effective than governmental aid; this may be because it is better at reaching the poor and better controlled at the grassroots level. ^[108] As a point of comparison, the annual world military spending is over $1 trillion. ^[109]

Improving the environment and access of the poor

Numerous methods have been adduced to upgrade the situation of those in poverty, some contradictory to each other. Some of these mechanisms are:

• Subsidized housing development. Subsidised housing (aka social housing) is government supported accommodation for people with low to moderate incomes
• Education, especially that directed at assisting the poor to produce food in underdeveloped countries.
• Family planning to limit the numbers born into poverty and allow family incomes to better cover the existing family.
• Subsidized health care.
• Assistance in finding employment.
• Subsidized employment (see also Workfare). Workfare is an alternative model to conventional Social welfare systems
• Encouragement of political participation and community organizing. Community organizing is a process by which people living in proximity to each other are brought together by an organizationto act in their common self-interest (at least as per the views
• Implementation of fair property rights laws.
• Reduction of regulatory burden and bureaucratic oversight.
• Reduction of taxation on income and capital.
• Reduction of government spending, including a reduction in borrowing and printing money.

Millennium Development Goals

Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 is the first Millennium Development Goal. Hunger is a feeling experienced usually followed by a desire to Eat. In addition to broader approaches, the Sachs Report (for the UN Millennium Project) ^[110] proposes a series of "quick wins", approaches identified by development experts which would cost relatively little but could have a major constructive effect on world poverty. Jeffrey David Sachs (born November 5, 1954, in Detroit Michigan) is an American Economist and Director of the Earth Institute The quick wins are:

• Directly assisting local entrepreneurs to grow their businesses and create jobs.
• Access to information on sexual and reproductive health. A sexually transmitted disease ( STD) or venereal disease ( VD) is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between Humans
• Action against domestic violence. Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or spousal abuse) occurs when a family member partner or ex-partner attempts to physically or psychologically dominate
• Appointing government scientific advisors in every country.
• Deworming school children in affected areas.
• Drugs for AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common Malaria is a vector -borne Infectious disease caused by Protozoan Parasites It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions including
• Eliminating school fees. Tuition means instruction or teaching. In American English, the term tuition is often used to refer to a fee charged for educational instruction
• Ending user fees for basic health care in developing countries. Fee-for-service is a standard business model where services are unbundled and paid for separately
• Free school meals for schoolchildren. The term free school meal refers to a sum of money provided for individual pupils in schools throughout the United Kingdom to purchase a lunch time School meal, or
• Legislation for women’s rights, including rights to property.
• Planting trees.
• Providing soil nutrients to farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Fertilizers ( also spelt fertiliser are chemical compounds given to Plants to promote growth they are usually applied either through the soil for uptake by plant Sub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries
• Providing mosquito nets. A mosquito net offers Protection against Mosquitos flies, and other Insects and thus against diseases such as Malaria.
• Access to electricity, water and sanitation. Rural electrification is the process of bringing electrical power to Rural and remote areas Water is a common Chemical substance that is essential for the survival of all known forms of Life. Sanitation is the hygienic means of preventing human contact from the hazards of wastes to promote health
• Supporting breast-feeding. Breastfeeding is the feeding of an Infant or young Child with Breast milk directly from human Breasts, not from a Baby bottle or other
• Training programs for community health in rural areas. Community health, a field within Public health, is a discipline that concerns itself with the study and betterment of the health characteristics of biological communities
• Upgrading slums, and providing land for public housing.

Other approaches

The Copenhagen Consensus was an attempt to rank global welfare improvement programs in terms of their urgency and cost-effectiveness; Direct Aid to combat HIV infection was determined to be the top priority. Copenhagen Consensus is a project that seeks to establish priorities for advancing global welfare using methodologies based on the theory of Welfare economics. Human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV) is a Lentivirus (a member of the Retrovirus family that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

Another method in helping to fight poverty is to have commodity exchanges that will supply necessary information about national and perhaps international markets to the poor who would then know what products and where it is sold will bring better profits. Commodity markets are markets where raw or primary products are exchanged For example, in Ethiopia, remote farmers, who do not have this information, produce crops that may not bring the best profits. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page When they sell their products to a local trader, who then sells to another trader, and another, the cost of the food rises before it finally reaches the consumer in large cities. Economist Gabre-Madhin proposes warehouses where farmers could have constant updates of the latest market prices, making the farmer think nationally, not locally. Each warehouse would have an independent neutral party that would test and grade the farmer's harvest, allowing traders in Addis Ababa, and potentially outside Ethiopia, to place bids on food, even if it is unseen. Addis Ababa (sometimes spelled Addis Abeba, the spelling used by the official Ethiopian Mapping Authority Amharic Thus, if the farmer gets five cents in one place he would get three times the price by selling it in another part of the country where there may be a drought. A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply ^[111]

Some argue for a radical change of the economic system. There are several proposals for a fundamental restructuring of existing economic relations, and many of their supporters argue that their ideas would reduce or even eliminate poverty entirely if they were implemented. Such proposals have been put forward by both left-wing and right-wing groups: socialism, communism, anarchism, libertarianism, binary economics and participatory economics, among others. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based Anarchism is a Political philosophy encompassing theories and attitudes which support the elimination of all compulsory Government, i Libertarianism is a term used by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which prioritize individual Liberty and seek to minimize or even abolish the Binary economics is a heterodox theory of Economics that endorses both Private property and a Free market but proposes significant reforms to Participatory economics, often abbreviated parecon, is a proposed Economic system that uses participatory decision making as an economic mechanism

Proponents of such taxes argue that absolute or relative poverty can be reduced by progressive taxation, a wealth tax, and an inheritance tax. A progressive tax is a Tax imposed so that the Tax rate increases as the amount subject to taxation increases Because of the broad term "wealth" Property tax, capital transfer taxes ( Inheritance tax, Estate tax, Gift tax) Endowment tax Estate tax and Death duty redirect here Inheritance tax, estate tax and death duty are the names given to various taxes which

The IMF and member countries have produced Poverty Reduction Strategy papers or PRSPs. Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs are in many ways the replacement for Structural Adjustment Programs and are documents required by the IMF and World ^[112]

In his book The End of Poverty (ISBN 1594200459),^[113] a prominent economist named Jeffrey Sachs laid out a plan to eradicate global poverty by the year 2025. Jeffrey David Sachs (born November 5, 1954, in Detroit Michigan) is an American Economist and Director of the Earth Institute Following his recommendations, international organizations are working to help eradicate poverty worldwide with intervention in the areas of housing, food, education, basic health, agricultural inputs, safe drinking water, transportation and communications. ^[114]

Voluntary poverty

See also: Simple living

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight. Simple living (or voluntary simplicity) is a lifestyle individuals choose to minimize the 'more-is-better' pursuit of Wealth and consumption.

—Shaker song. ^[115]

St. Francis of Assisi renounces his worldly goods in a painting attributed to Giotto di Bondone. For the opera by Olivier Messiaen see Saint-François d'Assise.

Among some individuals, such as ascetics, poverty is considered a necessary or desirable condition, which must be embraced in order to reach certain spiritual, moral, or intellectual states. Ascetic redirects here You might also be looking for Acetic acid. Poverty is often understood to be an essential element of renunciation in religions such as Buddhism and Jainism, whilst in Roman Catholicism it is one of the evangelical counsels. Nekkhamma is a Pali word generally translated as "renunciation" while also conveying more specifically "giving up the world and leading a holy life" Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Jainism, traditionally known as Jain Dharma / Shraman Dharma (जैन धर्म is an ancient religion of India. The three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity are chastity, poverty (or perfect charity) and Certain religious orders also take a vow of poverty. A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion usually A vow ( Lat votum, vow promise see Vote) is a promise or Oath. For example, the Franciscan orders have traditionally forgone all individual and corporate forms of ownership. The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic However, while individual ownership of goods and wealth is forbidden for Benedictines, following the Rule of St. Benedict, the monastery itself may possess both goods and money, and throughout history some monasteries have become very rich indeed. Benedictine refers to the Spirituality and Consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in This article concerns the buildings occupied by monastics. For the life inside monasteries and its historical roots see Monasticism.

In this context of religious vows, poverty may be understood as a means of self-denial in order to place oneself at the service of others; Pope Honorius III wrote in 1217 that the Dominicans "lived a life of voluntary poverty, exposing themselves to innumerable dangers and sufferings, for the salvation of others". Pope Honorius III (1148 &ndash March 18 1227) born Cencio, was Pope from 1216 to 1227 The Order of Preachers ( Latin: Ordo Praedicatorum) after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is However, following Jesus' warning that riches can be like thorns that choke up the good seed of the word (Matthew 13:22), voluntary poverty is often understood by Christians as of benefit to the individual - a form of self-discipline by which one distances oneself from distractions from God. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) The Gospel of Matthew (Gk Κατά Ματθαίον Ευαγγέλιον is one of the four Canonical gospels in the New Testament and is a Synoptic gospel In its most general sense discipline refers to systematic instruction given to a Disciple. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity.

Etymology

The words "poverty" and "poor" came from Latin pauper = "poor", which originally came from pau- and the root of pario, i. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The root is the primary lexical unit of a Word, which carries the most significant aspects of semantic content and cannot be reduced into smaller constituents e. "giving birth to not much" and referred to unproductive farmland or livestock. In Geography, arable land (from Latin arare, to Plough) is an agricultural term meaning land that can be used for Livestock is the term used to refer (singularly or plurally to a Domesticated Animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to produce such as Food

See also

• List of countries by percentage of population living in poverty
• Countries by fertility rate
• Cycle of poverty
• Diseases of poverty
• Deprivation index
• Economic inequality
• Feminization of poverty
• Food security
• Food vs fuel
• Fuel poverty
• Global justice
• Green Revolution
• Hunger
• Impoverishment
• Income disparity
• International inequality
• International Development
• IQ and Global Inequality
• IQ and the Wealth of Nations
• Least Developed Countries
• Life expectancy
• Literacy
• Minimum wage
• Pauperism
• Population growth
• Poverty threshold
• Poverty trap
• Rural ghetto
• Social exclusion
• Subsidized housing
• Street children
• Ten Threats identified by the United Nations
• Welfare
• Working poor
• Make Poverty History
• The Hunger Site
• List of famines
• 2007–2008 world food price crisis

Organizations and campaigns

• Abahlali baseMjondolo - South African Shack dwellers' organisation
• Brooks World Poverty Institute
• Catholic Charities USA^[116]
• Center for Global Development
• Child Poverty Action Group
• Compassion Canada
• Five Talents - Gives poverty stricken people another chance
• Free the Children
• Grameen Bank A micro lending bank for the poor. These are lists of Countries of the world by percentage of population living in Poverty. This page consists of two tables Table 1 is sourced from the CIA World Factbook''' In Economics, the cycle of poverty is the "set of factors or events by which poverty once started is likely to continue unless there is outside intervention Diseases of Poverty are Diseases that are more Prevalent among "the poor" than among wealthier people Deprivation indices measure the level of deprivation in an area Economic inequality refers to disparities in the distribution of Economic Assets and Income. The feminization of poverty is a change in the levels of Poverty biased against women or female headed households Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it Food vs fuel is the dilemma regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for Biofuels production in detriment of the Food A fuel poor household is one which cannot afford to keep adequately warm at reasonable cost Global justice is an issue in Political philosophy arising from the concern that "we do not live in a just world The Green Revolution refers to the transformation of Agriculture that began in 1945 at the request of the Mexican government to establish an agricultural research station to Hunger is a feeling experienced usually followed by a desire to Eat. Income disparity or wage gap is a term used to describe inequities and asymmetry in the distribution of wealth and income between Socio-economic groups within society International inequality is inequality between countries (cf Milanovic 2002 This article is about international development See the closely related concept of development cooperation. IQ and Global Inequality is a Controversial 2006 book by Dr Richard Lynn, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Ulster IQ and the Wealth of Nations is a Controversial 2002 book by Dr Least Developed Countries ( LDCs or Fourth World countries are Countries which according to the United Nations exhibit the lowest Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age traditional definition of literacy is considered to be the ability to read and write or the ability to use Language to read, write, listen, A minimum wage is the lowest hourly daily or monthly Wage that employers may legally pay to employees or workers Pauperism (Lat pauper, poor is a term meaning Poverty or generally the state of being poor but in English usage particularly the condition of being a Population growth is the change in Population over time and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals in a population using "per unit time" for The poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of Income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate Standard of living in a given country Poverty Trap – poverty trap is a scenario where people experience poverty due to circumstances beyond their control The term rural ghetto was coined by Osha Gray Davidson in the book Broken Heartland The Rise of America's Rural Ghetto and is used to describe the influx of poverty Social Exclusion has no agreed to defined or specific single application though one suggested definition is as follows Social exclusion is a multidimensional process Subsidised housing (aka social housing) is government supported accommodation for people with low to moderate incomes Street children is a term used to refer to children who live on the streets The ten threats identified by the High Level Threat Panel of the United Nations are these Poverty Infectious disease The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security Welfare is financial assistance paid to people by governments Working poor is a term used to describe Individuals and families who maintain regular employment but remain in relative Poverty due to low levels of pay The Make Poverty History campaign (which is written as MAKE POVERTY' HISTORY') is a British and Irish coalition of Charities, religious The Hunger Site is the original Click-to-donate site created in 1999 that gets Sponsorship from advertisers in return for delivering users This is an incomplete list of major Famines ordered by date A complete list will almost certainly never become available The years 2007–2008 saw dramatic rises in world food prices creating a global crisis and causing political and economical instability and social unrest in Abahlali baseMjondolo is a popular entirely non-professionalized and democratic mass movement of Shack dwellers and other poor people in South Africa. The Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI is a research centre connected to the University of Manchester dedicated to multidisciplinary research on poverty inequality and growth Catholic Charities is a worldwide The Center for Global Development (CGD is a Not-for-profit Think tank based in Washington D Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG is a UK charity that takes a leading role in campaigning for the abolition of Poverty and Social exclusion. For the Taiwan-based nonprofit called Compassion International see Compassion International (Taiwan. Five Talents is a Christian Microfinance charity. It provides Loans to groups of entrepreneurs and also offers business training and mentoring Free The Children is a children's charity organization founded in 1995 by Children's rights advocate Craig Kielburger. The Grameen Bank (গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক is a Microfinance organization and Community development bank started in Bangladesh that
• Microgiving Direct charitable giving
• Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)
• 17 October: UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (White Band Day 4)
• International Fund for Agricultural Development
• Southern Poverty Law Center
• The Make Poverty History campaign
• Mississippi Teacher Corps
• United Nations Millennium Campaign ^[117][118]
• World Bank
• World Food Day
• The Red Letters Campaign ^[119]

References

Further reading

External links

• World Bank Data and Analysis on Poverty and Economic Growth in South Asia
• The Red Letters Campaign to Live Faith and End Poverty
• The Crime of Poverty by Henry George
• Global Distribution of Poverty Global poverty datasets and map collection
• Why Poor Countries are Poor
• The End of Poverty - an interview with Jeff Sachs - Yale Economic Review
• Fighting Hunger and poverty in Ethiopia (Peter Middlebrook)
• Poverty in the United States, by Isabel V. Dollars & Sense is a Magazine dedicated to providing Left-wing perspectives on Economics. Dr Peter J Middlebrook (born in Lincoln, UK, 15 November, 1965) is a leading English political economist/ Political Scientist Sawhill. Concise encyclopedia of economics on Econlib
• Poverty on the World Bank portal
• Poverty Eradication - UN Division for Social Development
• Education Is The Key To Reducing Poverty, Omedia
• Causes of Poverty, GlobalIssues. The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (CEE is a widely-used encyclopedia of economics The Library of Economics and Liberty (Econlib is a free online library of Economics books and articles and is sponsored by Liberty Fund, a non-profit organization The World Bank is an internationally supported Bank that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development programs (e org
•   "Poverty and Pauperism". Catholic Encyclopedia. The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.  
• The freedom to be frugal Molly Scott Cato
• PPHP: Global Poverty Forecast
• Poverty in the UK and beyond
• Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity