Mr. Shyaam Ramkumar, Chair
s-ramkumar@northwestern.edu


The World Bank defines the international level of poverty as living on $1 - $2 a day, depending on geographic location. Poverty measurements like the United Nations’ Human Poverty Index take into account a variety of poverty-inducing factors, such as illiteracy, inadequate infrastructure, poor economic policies, institutional instability, poor health care, malnutrition and insufficient access to clean water.

According to 1997 poverty maps compiled by the United Nations Environment Program, the number of people living below this international poverty line is 1.3 billion. In this study, there were more than 100 million malnourished children, 600 million lacking health services, and 1.3 billion lacking clean water. A 2000 study found that over 900 million people, close to 75% of the world’s population, live in poverty in the Asian and Pacific regions. Another study in 2003, found that 1.4 billion people were living on a $1 a day, while another 2.8 billion were living on $2 a day, the majority of whom are in South East Asia and Africa. In the 2005 Human Development Report, childhood mortality age in the poorest countries was shown to be less that one-half of the world’s average. It also states that 40% of the world’s population live on $2 a day, and account for less than 5% of the world’s income, whereas 10% of the world’s population account for 54% of the world’s income. If current trends continue, the number of people living in slums, with inadequate access to food, water, and shelter and in a tragic state of poverty, will increase in nearly every region of the world.

These figures, however, grossly under-estimate the true extent of global poverty since they assume a minimal food and non-food item cost. In reality, the costs that the global poor face far exceed the statistical ones presented. Housing, even for a little room in a shack, could potentially take up 20-30% of a household’s income. Children, though they are allocated 1/3 of the costs of an adult, face greater costs if parents want to provide them a decent education and provide them sufficient healthcare. Poverty also doesn’t have to be measured by directly economic costs. It also involves lost opportunities, such as unemployment and inability to access the resources and information due to geographical or institutional factors, not to mention the psychological effects associated with poverty-stricken life. Additionally, despite what the numbers and the studies advocate, they are just estimates, and the true extent of global poverty could be much worse than statistically represented.

In September 2000, the United Nations member states gathered for the UN Millennium Summit and collectively adopted the Millennium Declaration, a plan for improving the quality of life for individuals in developing nations. Following the adoption of this document, different international organizations and agencies within the UN developed eight different goals, known as the Millennium Development Goals, to achieve by the end of the year 2015.

One such poverty reduction goal promised the multifaceted task to halve the population of the world living on less than one dollar a day as well as the population of the world in extreme hunger, and increase the amount of food for those who suffer from hunger. These goals can best be achieved through the increase in international aid. According to the Borgen Project, a poverty reduction organization, the total cost of reaching the poverty levels of the Millennium Goals by 2025 is $40-60 billion a year, a fraction of what some developed countries pay to military contractors and for wars.

In order to make international aid effective against poverty, it requires developing countries to maximize initiatives toward poverty-reduction and for developed countries to provide sufficient assistance. The Human Development Report details that the expected aid for many poor regions of the world needs to double in order to even come close to the standards of the Millennium Development Goals. Though income per capita has increased by $6,070, the per capita aid provided by developed countries has decreased to a mere 0.25% of their Gross National Income. Financial shortfalls are projected to grow unless policies are developed to increase such aid to poor countries.

Aid, however, cannot solve poverty alone, since it requires the development of programs by poor countries that connect the impoverished with organizations that have the resources to help them. Therefore, developing countries have an equal responsibility so that international aid flows to those who need it and it can optimally be used to provide individual assistance and improve economic growth and development.

Reducing global poverty levels is very important for the progress and improvement of developing countries. Already, great strides have been made as the G8 finance ministers decided to eliminate the $40 billion of debt that 18 impoverished countries owe, thus opening up the ability for these countries to focus on improving their infrastructure and institutions. Furthermore, the 2005 Human Development Report shows that quality of life, infant mortality, and other factors of poverty have been improving in many parts of the world, though still much worse off than in most developed countries. It is necessary for every member nation of the UN, both developing and developed, to continue to work together and develop strategies, policies, and programs to achieve these goals.



Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia - Millennium Development Goals
Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia - Poverty
UN Millennium Declaration
The World Bank (1)
The World Bank (2)
UNDP-Poverty Center: InFocus
UNDP-Human Development Report 2005
Poverty Mapping (1)
Poverty Mapping (2)
InfoPlease: Measuring Global Poverty
Global Poverty Report