Causes of Poverty

There are three main and inarguable causes of poverty. The first being scarcity of basic needs. Poverty has been present from the beginning of time. There has always been someone who had less than the majority and was struggling to survive. Much of the scarcity lies in developing countries where there is a lack of a secure infrastructure can support the development of a populations needs. In these poverty stricken countries it is difficult to find clean water, shelter, food or health care. Not only is it difficult to find these necessities, it is often times unavailable and the natives are forced to endure the effects and drawbacks of an underdeveloped country without any assistance or hope for the future. Often times these effects include starvation, high rates of disease and death, overpopulation due to the lack of access of birth control, power struggles such as discrimination, rape, violence, etc.

            The second cause of poverty is barriers to opportunity. Individuals living in poverty do not have the same opportunities as those living in the developed world. They cannot simply walk to a business, fill out an employment application and expect to get hired and begin making money in a few weeks’ time. Not only are employment options scarce, they are often times non-existent. In addition to being unable to find a means through which to earn monetary funds, there is also the issue of literacy. For most cases, you must be fairly literate in order to effectively maintain employment. Often times, there is a small majority of people who are lucky enough to attend an educational institution however the effectiveness of these institutions cannot provide one with the education necessary to compete for a mainstream job in the developed world. Not only is there a lack of opportunity that leads to poverty, it is as if these people living in the third world are actually set up to be born and remain in poverty because of these issues.

            The third cause of poverty is debt. Due to international inequality, developing countries are forced to repay their debts to richer countries, which can essentially push them even deeper into poverty. Not only are they expected to pay back their loans as well as any other debts they may have, they are also expected to maintain all other conditionalities that these developed countries have employed. For example, many times these conditionalities include Liberalization of trade; or in other words, it calls for fewer governmental regulations and restrictions in the economy. While this seems like it could be a good idea to encourage more economic traffic; which would lead to an increased money flow, it actually has many potential risks and more often than not, results in adverse effects.