Poverty By: Allison White

What is Poverty?Poverty: the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material Possessions (Websters)

Many people cannot afford to live the way they would like. There are many families who go without buying new clothes, or toys, in order to buy food. The Poverty line is a line the government created. If you make over this line you are not considered to be living in poverty percent. If you do not make enough to meet or surpass this line you are considered to be living in poverty. (Social Problems)

Who is in Poverty? There are not certain

people who are ‘prone’ to living in poverty. It just depends on your income. In nearly every chart I saw, more women than men were living in Poverty, and with that it seems under eighteen years old is the most common age. (Census)

Seniors (65+)

Middle age (19-64)

Minors (0-18)

0 5 10 15 20 25

WomenMen

Poverty around the WorldSome people don’t realize that poverty is not just found in America, or in third world countries. Countries are sometimes known as ‘developed’ or ‘underdeveloped’ countries. Just because the country is considered ‘Developed’ doesn’t mean there is no poverty. From 1981 to 2005 the Poverty rate decreased by 10% excluding China. Including China it dropped 25%. (global issues) 19

8019

9020

000%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

300%

$1.00 a day$2.00 a day$1.45 a day$1.25 a day$2.50 a day

Side Effects If you are raised below the poverty line you are much more likely to have

behavioral problems than someone who is raised in a wealthy family. Studies from the University of Bristol found that 35% of boys raised below the poverty line had behavioral

issues as opposed to 15% of boys raised in a wealthy family. (Nursery World)

Click icon to add pictureChildren with Behavioral Prob-

lems

Boys Born Un-der the Poverty Line

Girls Born under the Poverty Line

Boys Born above the poverty line

Girls born above the poverty line

Government The government has different ways they are trying to keep people out of poverty. One of the ways is by having unemployment benefits. These benefits kept 3.2 million people out of poverty in 2010. Some people don’t approve of this. They believe the national government should take a step back and let the state divide up the food stamps and other money given to those living under the poverty line. (CNN)

We have social welfare programs that are programs organized by the government and privet organizations designed to help keep those under the poverty line living well. (Social Problems)

Social ContextPoverty affects everyone no matter how wealthy or poor you are. If you are wealthy your taxes can go to help those who are less fortunate. However some people don’t believe that should be the case. They believe people should earn there own living. If you are poor and you live under the poverty line, you are grateful for the help from the government but it still isn’t enough for people to live off of. (Social Problems)

Poverty is a social issue we all need to acknowledge and try to help. It is not going to go away on our own. We need to figure out different ways to help our economy so we won’t have as many people living under the poverty line.

Citationswww.globalissues.org

www.census.gov

Social Problems, John J. Macionis

Websters Dictionary

www.nurseryworld.co.uk

money.cnn.com