All over the world, disparities between rich and poor, even in the wealthiest of nations is rising sharply. Fewer people are becoming increasingly “successful” and wealthy while a disproportionately larger population are also becoming even poorer.
There are many issues involved when looking at global poverty and inequality. It is not simply enough (or correct) to say that the poor are poor due to their own (or their government's) bad governance and management. If fact, you could quite easily conclude that the poor are poor because the rich are rich and have the power to enforce unequal trade agreements that favor their interests more than the poorer nations.
FACTS:
There are many issues involved when looking at global poverty and inequality. It is not simply enough (or correct) to say that the poor are poor due to their own (or their government's) bad governance and management. If fact, you could quite easily conclude that the poor are poor because the rich are rich and have the power to enforce unequal trade agreements that favor their interests more than the poorer nations.
FACTS:
- Half the world -- nearly three billion people -- live on less than two dollars a day
- The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the poorest 48 nations (i.e. a quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined
- Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names
- The poorer the country, the more likely it is that debt repayments are being extracted directly from people who neither contracted the loans nor received any of the money
- 20% of the population in the developed nations, consume 86% of the worlds goods
- The developing world now spends $13 on debt repayment for every $1 it receives in grants
- A few hundred millionaires now own as much wealth as the world's poorest 2.5 billion people
- Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion have no access to clean water; 3 billion have no access to sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity
- A mere 12 percent of the world's population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World