It is happening in America....It is also happening around the world. It may not be a topic you really want to think about right now at a time when people are spending tons of money on Fireworks and 4th of July celebrations. That is poverty.
According to the US Census Bureau, 35.9 million people live below the poverty line in America, including 12.9 million children.
This is despite abundance of food resources. Almost 100 billion pounds of food is wasted in America each year. 700 million hungry human beings in different parts of the world would have gladly accepted this food.
(The figures below are 1998 figures)
* Proportion of Americans living below the poverty level: 12.7 percent (34.5 million people)
* The average poverty threshold for a family of four: $16,660 in annual income
* The average poverty threshold for a family of three: $13,003 in annual income
* Poverty rate for metropolitan areas: 12.3 percent
* Poverty rate for those living inside central cities: 18.5 percent
* Poverty rate for those living in the suburbs: 8.7 percent
* Percentage and number of poor children: 18.9 percent (13.5 million)
* Children make up 39 percent of the poor and 26 percent of the total population.
* The poverty rate for children is higher than for any other age group.
Child poverty:
* -for children under age 6 living in families with a female householder and no husband present: 54.8 percent
* -for children under age 6 in married-couple families: 10.1 percent
* Poverty rate for African Americans: 26.1 percent
* Poverty rate for Asians and Pacific Islanders: 12.5 percent
* Poverty rate for Hispanics of any race: 25.6 percent
* Poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites: 8.2 percent
About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds. Unfortunately, it is children who die most often.
Domestic food prices in about 46 developing countries are higher than 12 months ago
The number of chronically hungry people in the world, rose in 2008 due to the food crisis & is set to top 1 billion this year
Financial crisis + food crisis = 1.4 million to 2.8 million additional infant deaths by 2015
Are you exposed to poverty where you live? Has it increased or decreased since the recession?
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Comments (10)
I had an Economics teacher who once said "There are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics."
poverty is here, it is everywhere, we shouldn't ignore it, we should try to help the oppressed.
I live in a small town, and I have lived in small towns my entire life. I've never seen a homeless person in my life, nor a starving person. I'd have to go to the bigger places, I guess, to see that.
People below the poverty line need to have more help than just being fed, however. That's the problem. We could keep them alive and feed them forever, but that wouldn't help them get a job. They'd never be able to support themselves. Not many people appreciate the idea of having to constantly help somebody who would never be able to help themselves, or quit relying on them.
Plus, tons of people just plain and simple don't think about it. Others don't know how to get food to them. Others don't realize that when they buy a head of lettuce, half of it (if not more) will go bad. It's not like government agencies say, "Hey, bring half a head of lettuce." - They typically want the whole thing; and wasted food is never the whole thing.
I mean, there needs to be a plan in place to allow people above the poverty line to get a job so they don't end up below it. Around the same time, a plan also needs to be executed to make sure that people below the poverty line get good paying jobs. That way they won't starve or have to rely on others for their food sources.
Sadly, with the government in its current horrid state, I don't see ANYTHING being done whatsoever. Oh, nevermind, tax prices are raising. But that's going against what needs to be done entirely.
Ugh. D:
Hong Kong is worse than the U.S. Read my blog: http://choyshinglin.xanga.com/706427600/capitalism-and-income-inequality/
What a preventable tragedy. It makes me so sad.
i've been to cities and third world countries, where i was exposed to poverty.
i'm not exposed to poverty where i live; i live in a wealthy suburb of mass.
I was reading this book called "The End of Poverty" and it goes through the different stages of economic development that different countries are going through and what steps have the developed world has gone through to make where they are today. In my economic development class, it seems the problem is due to so many factors. Consider Africa where the land is so dry and the temperature is so hot... If only they could develop a agricultural system, then work their way out of it to better technology so focus can come out of agriculture and into industry. This is the basic steps to get out of poverty but it can take so long or not even happen. So many things are in the way, tyrannical governments, belief systems, etc... yep... it's pretty terrible...
I probably live in the worst city next to Newark in NJ. Or maybe the best since it's 10 mins away from NYC and we have much of nyc's culture here. But, you can still see the poverty in some areas.. its kinda sad =/ The schools, the stores, the roads... no money for anything. btw, our mayor doesnt do shit.. its fuckin crazy. At this rate, J.C will become a ghosttown.
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I'm sure it has increased in my metro, but I haven't been exposed to it. I used to live in a smaller city where I was more exposed to poverty, but I moved over a year ago.