Poverty Debate Guide

From PhiloWiki

Those who live in conditions of poverty lack a wide range of economic and other resources and may be described as poor or impoverished. Some see the term as subjective and comparative, others see it as moral and evaluative, while others consider that it is scientifically established. The term "developing countries" is now used to refer to nations that are "poor"...

The underlying causes of poverty and the elimination thereof are a controversial, politicized issue. Those with right wing views may consider that poverty results from personal choices or preferences, the breakdown of "traditional values", lack of birth control, and over-interference by government. They may also look to structural factors that prevent economic growth, such as poorly protected property rights, lacking credit system, crime, and corruption.

Those with more left wing views typically see poverty as the result of many systemic factors unrelated to personal choices or preferences. For instance, they consider that poverty is caused by lack of opportunity (particularly in education), and that it is often the lack of government intervention which results in more poverty. They tend to believe that alleviating poverty is a matter of social justice and that it is the responsibility of the wealthy to help those in need.

Poverty from Wikipedia

1 Income Poverty
2 Inequality between Countries
3 Population
4 Health
5 Education
6 Environment
7 Aid
- 7.1 Online help
8 Additional Resources

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Income Poverty

The total population in developing countries as of 2000 is 5.2 billion. Of this, how many people live on less than $1 a day?

Excluding China, over the last 10 years, has the number of people living on less than $1 a day in the developing world increased, decreased or stayed the same?

In 1990, 44 million people lived on less than $2 a day in Europe and Central Asia. How many people lived in 1999 on less than $2 a day in the region?

DISCUSSION POINTS:

Is lack of income a result of personal choices or systemic factors?
Do racism and poverty have a direct correlation? How/why does race and gender affect the likelihood of someone being poor? What can we do to mitigate these factors?
What is the best economic system for producing a society with the fewest number of people living in poverty?

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Inequality between Countries

In 2000, the United States was ranked the third richest economy in the world, based on its $34,100 Gross National Income (GNI) per capita in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms. What was the GNI per capita in PPP terms in the country ranked as the poorest, Sierra Leone?

The average income for the richest twenty countries in the world was 15 times the average for the poorest twenty countries in 1960. What is it now?

DISCUSSION POINTS:

Does globalization and free trade promote or hinder inequality between countries?
How does poverty have an impact in destabilizing countries and regions, increasing the likelihood of war (civil or international) and/or engagement in terrorist activities?
Does poverty create human desperation that leads to no alternative but violence -- both internal strife such as genocide (i.e. Germany, Rwanda, Sudan, Bosnia/Croatia), but also violent revolt against nations with power and resources?

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Population

The world population in 2000 was 6 billion. By 2015, what will be the world population?

The world population is forecast to increase by about 1 billion between the years 2000 and 2015. What percentage of this increase will take place in developing countries?

In 1960, 24 percent of developing countries' population lived in cities. What was the percentage in 2000?

DISCUSSION POINT:

Parents tend to have larger families when they fear that many of their babies may die, when they need laborers to work on the family farm or business, when they want to ensure that they themselves will be cared for in their old age, and when they lack access to education and to family planning if they want it. What strategies might be helpful in helping to counter these fears/realities so that fertility rates may decrease?

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Health

In the United States, between 1990 and 1998, 8 women died for every 100,000 live births. In Eritrea and the Central African Republic, what is this figure?

In 1970, in the developing world, 110 infants died per 1,000 live births. How many infants died in 2000 per 1,000 live births?

Between 1988 and 1998, in the developing world, 32 boys out of 1,000 died between the ages of one and five. What was the figure for girls?

Life expectancy in the developing world increased from 60 years in 1980 to 64 years in 2000. Life expectancy in Botswana was 58 years in 1980; what is the figure for 2000?

In 2000, 36 million people were estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS. How many of them live in developing countries?

DISCUSSION POINTS:

How much does the US government spend on global health, and is it enough?
What role should global pharmaceutical companies play in eradicating diseases?

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Education

Of the 110 million children that are out of school today in developing countries, how many are girls?

In the developing world in 2000 18 percent of men were illiterate. What is the percentage of illiterate women?

Considering 15-19 year olds from the poorest 40 percent of the population in India, Pakistan, Mali and Benin, what is the median number of years these teenagers have been to school?

DISCUSSION POINTS:

Do the leaders of poorer nations have reason to keep their populations from being educated?

Should we focus on reforming the US education system before spending on international development?

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Environment

What percentage of urban sewage in the developing world is discharged into rivers, lakes and coastal waterways without any treatment?

How much have carbon dioxide emissions increased in developing countries since 1960?

As Delhi-based environment organization, the Centre for Science and Environment, points out, if the poor world were to develop and consume in the same manner as the West to achieve the same living standards, “we would need two additional planet Earths to produce resources and absorb wastes ... and good planets are hard to find!”

Poverty and third world debt has been shown to result in resource stripping just to survive or pay off debts. For example, Nepal and Bangladesh have suffered from various environmental problems such as increasingly devastating floods, resulting from large-scale deforestation. Forests around the world face increased pressures from timber companies and agricultural businesses.

GlobalIssues.Org from GlobalIssues.Org

DISCUSSION POINTS:

How does the environmental quality of a region impact its poverty rate (or vice versa)?
Will the loss of biodiversity impact global poverty rates? If so, how?
How does a region's access to environmental resources (oil, forests, water) impact its poverty rates?

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Aid

Some of the world's poorest people are already paying for the War on Terror, as the giving of aid by the world's richest countries becomes ruled by the rhetoric of 'with us or against us'. This must not continue, says this year's Christian Aid Week report.

Aid, says the report, is once again being viewed as a means of promoting the donors' own interests, particularly their security, rather than addressing the real needs of poor people.

The Politics of Poverty: Aid in the New Old War from Christian Aid.Org

DISCUSSION POINTS:

What percentage of OECD countries' Gross National Income (GNI) went to Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries in 2000? Will increasing the overall wealth of these countries result in greater happiness?
Do we have a moral obligation to assist people who live in poverty?
How does corruption affect the proper distribution of international aid?

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