There are many definitions of poverty and misery, which depend on the point of view of those who produce these definitions. Throughout the centuries, these realities have been seen from very different angles: religious: the poor, the incarnation of God; Moral: the poor person responsible for his situation and guilty; Political: the poor victim of an operating system; etc.
According to the United Nations Development Program: More than one billion people live on less than one dollar a day.
• 2.8 billion people, or nearly half the world's population, live on less than $ 2 a day.
• 448 million children are underweight.
• 876 million adults are illiterate, two-thirds of whom are women.
• Every day, 30,000 children under five die from preventable diseases
• More than one billion people lack access to safe water.
• 20% of the world's population owns 90% of the wealth
It is mainly statistics on the incomes of individuals and households, but also on access to work, housing, the care system, the education system and adult education. They can be found on the websites of global organizations such as the World Bank, UNDP, Or on the Eurostat statistical body and on the national statistical sites of the countries.
Lack of money is a problem we have all faced. However, this individual experience is not to be confused with poverty as a social problem. Money being a tangible proof of wealth, the lack of liquidity is nonetheless a sign of poverty. Poverty as a social problem is a penetrating evil that affects many aspects of culture and society. As a result, incomes among community members remain invariably low, access to services such as education, markets and health is poorly developed and there is insufficient capacity for decision-making. This shortage also affects communal sanitary facilities and running water, as well as road networks and transport and communications facilities.
Some key factors appear to increase the risk of poverty:
• Unemployment or low-quality employment (eg low-paid or precarious employment), which limits access to decent income and cuts people off their social networks
• Low levels of education and skills, limiting people's access to decent work to enable them to flourish and preventing people from participating fully in society;
• The size and type of family (eg, large families and lone-parent families) that increase the risk of poverty when families are faced with higher costs, low incomes and difficulty in obtaining a job. Well-paid employment;
• Gender - women are generally more vulnerable to poverty than men because they are less likely to be in paid employment, generally in smaller pensions, more Often have access to lower-paying jobs;
• Disability and ill-health as these factors restrict access to employment and increase daily spending;
• belonging to an ethnic minority (Roma) and immigrant / undocumented migrant groups, as these categories suffer more discrimination and racism and therefore have less chance of accessing employment; Often these groups are forced to live in deplorable physical environments and have difficulty accessing basic services;
• The provenance of a remote or severely disadvantaged community where access to services is poor.
While all these factors create additional obstacles and difficulties, they must nevertheless be seen in the general structural context, ie how a country decides to distribute wealth and address inequalities.
Poverty the one or the men are condemned
There is an attitude, a belief that poverty and the absolute necessity of an individual or group unable to support themselves must be dependent on external assistance. This attitude and shared belief is the greatest self-justifying factor in maintaining an individual or a group in a condition of external dependence. If each one of us, whatever his situation, is personally committed to fighting the factors of poverty, we can together, through the multiplier effect of our actions, contribute to the disappearance of these factors and to The ultimate victory over poverty.
Poverty struggle The lack of markets and infrastructure, the lack of leadership, government incompetence, underemployment, lack of skills, capital and so on, all contribute to the major factors of poverty. Colonialism, slavery, war and conquest are all historical causes that have contributed to poverty on a global scale. However, these causes and what we consider to be factors in the maintenance of poverty conditions are two quite different aspects. The difference is manifested in our way of fighting these causes today. It is impossible for us to go back and change the past. Poverty exists everywhere. It has its causes. Our opportunities for intervention are focused on the factors that sustain poverty.
