What are the Chief Causes of Poverty in the World

The world as we know it has immense resources to sustain the entire population adequately. However, the gap between the richest and the poorest countries has been widening from 3 to 1 in 18 ! to " to 1 in 1## . Therefore, it can be stated that in the world today there are two categories of countries $ the rich and the poor. There are many issues involved when looking at global poverty. They include the e%ploitation of the poor countries by the rich, the economy, the instability of governments, over& population and the mentality of the people. '%ploitation of the poor by the rich is one cause of poverty in a country and the world. (or e%ample, within a country, it serves the purpose of the powerful to control the poor by maintaining a low minimum wage which would affect all levels of the individual)s life and therefore would not be able to improve the standard of living. *imilarly, there is e%ploitation of poor countries by the richer ones. This pattern is seen throughout history from medieval times to the coloni+ation of the Third ,orld by rich countries. The e%ploitation now comes in the form of unfair trade policies, which leads to persistent poverty. -lso, if the administration of a country)s economy is mis&managed, then that country will be poor. (or instance, most of the poor countries have no industrial base for their economy and depend on traditional methods of agriculture. This means that there is no use of fertili+ers or mechanical farming. Their yield would be small and prices would be kept at a minimum in order to compete against others for the market. .f poorer nations are not given sufficient means to produce their own food, if they are not taught to use the tools of production themselves, then poverty and dependency will continue. .n other words give a man a fish and he would eat for one day, teach a man to fish and he would have food for a lifetime. -nother cause of poverty in the world today is the instability of governments. /olitics have led to terrible conditions in many poor countries because of a combination of successive military governments and the debts incurred which has kept the country in a state of poverty. 0atin -merica, 1igeria and .ndonesia are e%amples of this with 0atin -merica having the largest difference in the world between the rich and the poor. 2ictators and other corrupt rulers are often supported by the wealthy elite or by wealthier nations to help maintain their 3interests). -lso, neither corporations nor nations would want to invest in such an unstable environment thereby sustaining a stagnant economy. .n addition, overpopulation is another source of poverty in some countries. .t can be noted that in poorer countries, there is little or no control of births. -long with the advancement in medical science, and increased life e%pectancy, the population would e%plode. /eople may then leave the impoverished part of the country or world to seek a better way of life. ,hen there are too many people and not enough 4obs, then the crime rate will go up and so will the number of socially displaced individuals. This effectively causes poverty to spread throughout the region. (inally, a ma4or reason why poverty e%ists in the world is the mental attitude of the people. 5any people in Third ,orld countries never believed in themselves because of their history, e%ample slavery, and are poor in thinking and accept their position in society. .n .ndia, because of the caste system, there are generations of people who have sustained themselves through begging and see no reason to discontinue the activity. -lso, religion has a controlling influence in many poor nations. .n 6atholic dominated societies the birth rate is high because the church frowns upon contraception. .t is also believed that 3the poor would inherit the earth) and this adds to their complacency. To summari+e, there are various reasons why countries and people are poor and continue to be so. '%ploitation, political instability, overpopulation and the general mentality of the people are 4ust a few of the many reasons for the poverty in the world today. The debate will continue as parts of the Third ,orld still live below the poverty line.