Poverty Population Revised Essay

Believe it or non, more than a billion pile realnesswide subsists on slight than one dollar per day. At the same prison term, the terra firma is expected to make up some other three billion people by 2050, a bulk of which atomic number 18 going to come from the poorest beas (Merrick, 2002). Do beggary cause cosmos harvest-feast? Or is it the other musical mode around? This paper would mien more closely at the relationship between leanness and macrocosm maturement, and how to alleviate it.* * * The World Bank writes that penury has many a nonher(prenominal) faces Its not having a job. Hunger. Not having access to medical operate and schools. Its fearing for the future. Its surviving one day at a time. Its powerlessness (World Bank, undated). Bernadette Proctor, citing census data figures from 1993 writes that 39.3 one million million people were officially poor in the United States, 15.1% of that were earning a below the poverty level income. This means that per iod most of these people worked, there were still not earning enough for their e actuallyday needs. The situation was not any better in 2002, with 34.6 million Ameri base still living below the poverty level. Lynette Clemetson at the new-made York measure quotes liberal economists as saying that any increase in poverty in the country was too high considering that the U.S. is viewed as a very prosperous country (Clemetson, 2003). Outside the United States, statistics on poverty paints a grimmer picture that affects off the beaten track(predicate) more people in a far devastating degree. Anup Shah says that there is a distinguished disparity in income, with 80% of the worlds people living in countries where there is rig differences in income between the rich and the poor. In fact, only 5% of the worlds total income argon generated by almost half of the worlds universe of discourse (Shah, 2008). Out of 2.2 billion children in the world, 1 reveal of 2 are living in poverty, 1 in 3 do not keep adequate homes, 1 in 5 do not arrive access to safe water, while 1 in 7 have no access to health services. legion(predicate) more do not have access to education and proper nutrition (Shah, 2008). Worldwide, a billion people are illiterate. Diseases like human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS and malaria claim millions of lives. People have no access to clean, drink water (Shah, 2008).Causes While it is difficult to pinpoint exact and complete causes of poverty, the background Institute at Columbia University lists three causes of poverty the social and frugal displacement due to civil wars, or local conflicts affecting million of people the inequitable distribution of land and wealth, and man-made policies like understaffed access credit assistance and adoption of unsustainable technologies (The Earth Institute at Columbia University, undated). Anup Shah asks the empirical questions regarding the causes of poverty. It could be personal, like wrong decisions made, laziness, or it could be a matter of governance and public policy. Shah, however, looks deeper into the global causes. Structural margin policies have caused cutbacks in vital human services like health and education worldwide. Ironically, the policies have been instituted by the World Bank and the International monetary parentage as loan and repayment conditions. Shah as well as blames globalization in developing nations, later these countries opened their economies and found themselves competing with more powerful and industrialized nations. It became a battle of who could provide cheaper wages, resources and swallow standards, and has worsened poverty and inequality for most people. Shah too mentions corruption as a cause of poverty (2008). The Doors to Diplomacy Project, sponsored by the U.S. State Department and Global Schoolnet, agrees but adds that over population is another major cause. The project defines overpopulation as the situation of having big numbers of peo ple in too little space, with too few resources (2006). Rapid population growth worsens inequality, impedes economic growth, and exacerbates poverty (Alonzo et. al., 2004). pauperism is caused by many bestow factors, and thus is seen as a complex phenomenon. While rapid and unsustainable growth alone cannot fully explain poverty, it can help worsen the poverty situation in any given area (Alonzo et. al., 2004). Researchers at the University of the Philippines, citing a 2004 study that used data on 80 countries, states that a ontogenesis population exerts a negative and significant effect on the growth of the economy (Alonzo et. al., 2004).A Vicious Cycle Debates on population, poverty and its causes are very similar to the childhood question which came first the chicken or the egg? Thomas Merrick writes that the popular view in the 60s and 70s held that fertility eventidefall would show population growth and eventually poverty came under burn up in the 80s and the 90s (2002). Merrick, however, clarifies that recent studies and thinking have shown that demographic trends do tour a role in poverty studies. Merrick states that the potential benefits of a lower population, however, rests on the timing and degree of demographic change, the focus of economic policies, the social and economic status of women. There are cardinal contrasting views about(predicate) population and poverty. One says that higher population growth results in poverty, so lower fertility is the key to alleviating poverty (Merrick, 2002). The other holds that economic policies visualise poverty lessening, disagreeing that family planning is all you need. This view argues that poverty causes the people to involve more children because they can help around the house and take wield of their parents in old age (Merrick, 2002). Merrick also cites recent research that have found that when fertility declines, there is increased personal savings and investment becomes possible. The sce nario also gives rise to the situation wherein there are more workers prudent for fewer children. Merrick, however, recognizes that this benefit is temporary, and soon, there will be a situation, when the opposite is true, more retirees will be depending on the working class. Merrick also says that a higher population growth increases poverty by retarding the growth of the economy, and decline in quality the distribution of additional income created by the growth (Merrick, 2002).Government Policy Clemetson jells it compactly the policy shifts that resulted in the reduction of benefits and welfare structure for the poor are to blame.Peter Timmer agrees. Timmer writes that the different views on the private and social returns of having many children paves the way for government interventions, hopefully something that extends beyond the simple family planning schemes to broader economic organic evolution policies (Timmer, 1994). Timmer advocates for learning more about the dynami c behavior of poor households at heart the context of their environments. This would lead to a sound policy that can rest into the criminal cycle of worsening poverty and declining productivity (Timmer, 1994). Timmer suggests economic teaching policies that addresses nutrition, health, and education, as well as policies that bring about a reduction in income poverty can help alleviate poverty (Timmer, 1994). Timmer also says that it would be wise to raise domestic food production, which addresses nutrition further, and also offers a way to control food prices and income distribution by increase access to food (Timmer, 1994). Merrick adds that family planning alone will not inescapably reduce poverty. Whats needed to alleviate poverty is the combination of poky population growth, sound economic development, and the reduction of gender inequality (Merrick, 2002). humankind policy should promote the womans right to choose for herself how many children she wants to bear and when. Public policy should inform and educate and perhaps, subsidize women about fertility regulation (Merrick, 2002).Empowering Women At the heart of the debate including poverty, public policy, and population growth, there is one common thread empowering women. The United Nations macrocosm Fund explains that poor women who do not have access to family planning services will not be able to participate in income generating activities because they cannot time or space their children adequately. A woman who is empowered to choose their family size will slow population growth and help alleviate poverty. The UNFPA reiterates that fruitful health, womens empowerment and equal right can help snuff it the poverty cycle (United Nations Population Fund, 2004). Empowering women also extends to getting paid piece of work and education. The Population Problem Theory and Evidence as cited by Atanu Dey in his essay The Population-Poverty Trap, states that the lack of education and subsequent paid employment can hinder a woman from making decisions on her own, for herself. Both imparts a degree of self-confidence (Dey, 2004). * * * More than a billion people are scarcely surviving worldwide. Another two billion are not much better off. Poverty is taking infinite of lives, and making countless more miserable. Whatever the reasons, poverty and its eradication, or at least, alleviation should be top of anybodys list. A growing body research have pointed to population growth as one of its leading causes. A vicious cycle is apparent population growth causes poverty, poverty causes population growth. This time, two things are clearer. Public policy should be formulated only after a thorough understanding of poverty and its causes in a limited locale and milieu, and that policy should take to heart the role and importance of women if it should even go near succeeding. In effect, the way to combat poverty is to put in policies and programs at the grassroots level that would curb t he rapid growth of population, coupled with sound public policy and the active and informed partnership (coming from education) of women. Without any one of these elements, any measure will be designate to fail.Alonzo, R., Balisacan, A., Canlas, D., Capuno, J., Clarete, R., Danao, R., de Dios, E., Diokno,B., Esguerra, E., Fabella, R., Bautista, S., Kraft, A., Medalla, F., Mendoza, M.N., Monsod, S., Paderanga, C., Pernia, E., Quimbo, S., Sicat, G., Solon, O., Tan E., and Tecson G. (2004). Population and Poverty The Real Score. University of the Philippines School of Economics. Retrieved on 14 April 2008. Causes of Poverty. (2006). Doors to Diplomacy Project. Retrieved on 15 April 2008.Clemetson, Lynette. (2003). More American in Poverty in 2002, Census Study Says. New YorkTimes. Retrieved on 14 April 2008. Dey, Atanu. (2004). The Population-Poverty Trap. Retrieved on 14 April 2008.Focus on global poverty. The Earth Institute at Columbia Univeristy. Retrieved on14 April 2008. Merric k, Thomas W. (2002). Population and Poverty New Views on an Old Controvery.International Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 28, No. 1. Retrieved on 14 April 2008. Poverty, Population and Development. (2004). United Nations Population Fund. Retrieved on14 April 2008. Proctor, Bernadette. Poverty Population Profile of the United States. U.S. Census Bureau. LastUpdated 8 February 2008. Retrieved on 14 April 2008. Shah, Anup. (2008). Poverty Facts and Stats. Retrieved on 15 April 2008.Shah, Anup. (2008). Causes of Poverty. Retrieved on 15 April 2008.Timmer, C. Peter. (1994). Population, poverty and politics. The American Economic ReviewVol. 84. No. 2. pp 261.Understanding Poverty. World Bank. Retrieved on 14 April 2008.