Poverty Grade 9 Social Studies Economics Module

Poverty Poverty has existed for a very long time, and to different extents remains worldwide even in this 21st century. In primitive societies it was often the case that everybody was equally poor, but more modern societies have generally tended to involve poverty being confined to an often substantial minority only - though this can sometimes harm those concerned even more than universal poverty.

Development Levels of poverty Inequality Absolute poverty Relative poverty Inequality Progress – what constitutes progress? Our definitions of progress may be highly subjective. What has progress brought to native tribes people across the globe? Title: Navajos refuse casino riches. Copyright: Getty Images, available from http://edina.ac.uk/eig

Poverty is a ‘relative’ term What is Poverty? Romanian gypsies – is this man living in poverty? Copyright: ghitulescu radu, http://www.sxc.hu Or is this villager in rural China? Copyright: Mark Forman, http://www.sxc.hu Poverty is a ‘relative’ term

Poverty Line The International Poverty Line is an income level established by the World Bank to determine which people in the world are poor. The line was set at $1 a day per person in 1985 international PPP prices. Although this poverty line is useful for international comparisons, it is impossible to create an indicator of poverty that is strictly comparable across countries. A person is considered poor if he or she lives in a household whose daily income or consumption is less than $1 per person. The level of $1 a day per person is close to national poverty lines in low-income countries but considerably lower than those in high-income countries. For comparing poverty levels across middle-income countries, international poverty lines of $2, $4, and $11 a day per person are considered to be more appropriate.

Poverty in Canada/Nova Scotia Statistics Canada defines low-income households as those in which family will likely devote a larger share of its income on the necessities of food, shelter and clothing than the average family. While Statistics Canada doesn’t use the term, many other metrics of studying income also refer to this as the poverty line. A quarter of children under age six in Nova Scotia live in low-income households — a number that has not improved in the last 10 years. Data shows that 25.7 per cent of children under six in the province lived in low-income households in 2015, compared to 25.3 per cent in 2005 — significantly higher than the national average of 17.8 per cent.

Poverty Rates in Canada by Province (2012)

Poverty “Line” Nova Scotia

Absolute & Relative Poverty Absolute poverty involves people and their children having extreme difficulty in merely surviving. But in richer societies where the poor are a minority, their relative poverty generally involves the inability to obtain social necessities available to the majority - and is often intensified by social exclusion. Such poverty at its worst can involve -hunger amounting to starvation -inadequate shelter or housing and clothing -common in more primitive societies especially. SOCIAL EXCLUSION: In a society where 90% rely on their own computer and car, then those who cannot afford these things may function badly and are poor and may well be ostracized or socially excluded (unlike someone rich who chooses to not have such things and may merely be considered eccentric)

Poverty does come in different forms and extends, but it is always harmful to those concerned and especially harmful to children. Poverty itself means misery to the poor and it also makes them vulnerable to various forms of exploitation. Poverty can also be very harmful to society as a whole, insofar as it can maintain a divided conflict society where the poorer conflict with the richer.

People Living on Less than One Dollar a day

National Standards People Below Poverty Line

Causes of Poverty Environmental Economic Health Care Governance Demographic Social Factors

Jig Saw Time In groups of 3 Think about your “Cause” of poverty Write down a Definition Draw a Sketch that Reflects it (15 Minutes)

Environmental Erosion. Desertification and overgrazing. Deforestation Climate change Drought and water crisis Erosion. Intensive farming often leads to a vicious cycle of exhaustion of soil fertility and decline of agricultural yields and thence increased poverty. Desertification and overgrazing. Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded.[29] In Africa, if current trends of soil degradation continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa. Deforestation as exemplified by the widespread rural poverty in China that began in the early 20th century and is attributed to non-sustainable tree harvesting. Natural factors such as the climate change or environment Geographic factors, for example access to fertile land, fresh water, minerals, energy, and other natural resources. Presence or absence of natural features helping or limiting communication, such as mountains, deserts, sailable rivers, or coastline. Historically, geography has prevented or slowed the spread of new technology to areas such as the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa. The climate also limits what crops and farm animals may be used on similarly fertile lands. On the other hand, research on the resource curse has found that countries with an abundance of natural resources creating quick wealth from exports tend to have less long-term prosperity than countries with less of these natural resources.

Economics Unemployment Communists: the institution of property rights Unfair terms of trade Unemployment. Capital flight by which the wealthy in a society shift their assets to off-shore tax havens deprives nations of revenue needed to break the vicious cycle of poverty. Weakly entrenched formal systems of title to private property are seen by writers such as Hernando de Soto as a limit to economic growth and therefore a cause of poverty. Communists see the institution of property rights itself as a cause of poverty. Unfair terms of trade, in particular, the very high subsidies to and protective tariffs for agriculture in the developed world, is seen as a major cause of enduring poverty in developing countries heavily reliant on commodity exports. HEALTH CARE: Poor access to affordable health care makes individuals less resilient to economic hardship and more vulnerable to poverty. Inadequate nutrition in childhood, itself an effect of poverty, undermines the ability of individuals to develop their full human capabilities and thus makes them more vulnerable to poverty. Lack of essential minerals such as iodine and iron can impair brain development. It is estimated that 2 billion people (one-third of the total global population) are affected by iodine deficiency, including 285 million 6- to 12-year-old children. In developing countries, it is estimated that 40% of children aged 4 and under suffer from anemia because of insufficient iron in their diets. See also Health and intelligence. Disease, specifically diseases of poverty: AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis and others overwhelmingly afflict developing nations, which perpetuate poverty by diverting individual, community, and national health and economic resources from investment and productivity. Further, many tropical nations are affected by parasites like malaria, schistosomiasis, and trypanosomiasis that are not present in temperate climates. The Tsetse fly makes it very difficult to use many animals in agriculture in afflicted regions. Clinical depression undermines the resilience of individuals and when not properly treated makes them vulnerable to poverty. Similarly substance abuse, including for example alcoholism and drug abuse when not properly treated undermines resilience and can consign people to vicious poverty cycles.

Health Care Poor access to affordable health care Inadequate nutrition in childhood, Disease, specifically diseases of poverty Clinical depression Substance abuse

Governance Lacking democracy in poor countries The governance effectiveness of governments Weak rule of law Poor management of resource revenues Failure by governments to provide essential infrastructure Poor access to affordable education High levels of corruption Lacking democracy in poor countries: "The records when we look at social dimensions of development—access to drinking water, girls' literacy, health care—are even more starkly divergent. For example, in terms of life expectancy, poor democracies typically enjoy life expectancies that are nine years longer than poor autocracies. Opportunities of finishing secondary school are 40 percent higher. Infant mortality rates are 25 percent lower. Agricultural yields are about 25 percent higher, on average, in poor democracies than in poor autocracies—an important fact, given that 70 percent of the population in poor countries is often rural-based.""poor democracies don't spend any more on their health and education sectors as a percentage of GDP than do poor autocracies, nor do they get higher levels of foreign assistance. They don't run up higher levels of budget deficits. They simply manage the resources that they have more effectively." The governance effectiveness of governments has a major impact on the delivery of socioeconomic outcomes for poor populations Weak rule of law can discourage investment and thus perpetuate poverty. Poor management of resource revenues can mean that rather than lifting countries out of poverty, revenues from such activities as oil production or gold mining actually leads to a resource curse. Failure by governments to provide essential infrastructure worsens poverty. Poor access to affordable education traps individuals and countries in cycles of poverty. High levels of corruption undermine efforts to make a sustainable impact on poverty. In Nigeria, for example, more than $400 billion was stolen from the treasury by Nigeria's leaders between 1960 and 1999

Demographics and Social Factors Overpopulation and lack of access to birth control methods. Crime Historical factors, for example imperialism, colonialism and communism Cultural causes War, including civil war, genocide Discrimination Individual beliefs, actions and choices Overpopulation and lack of access to birth control methods. Note that population growth slows or even become negative as poverty is reduced due to the demographic transition. Crime, both white-collar crime and blue-collar crime, including violent gangs and drug cartels. Historical factors, for example imperialism, colonialism and communism (at least 50 million children in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union live in poverty). Brain drain Matthew effect: the phenomenon, widely observed across advanced welfare states, that the middle classes tend to be the main beneficiaries of social benefits and services, even if these are primarily targeted at the poor. Cultural causes, which attribute poverty to common patterns of life, learned or shared within a community. For example, Max Weber argued that the Protestant work ethic contributed to economic growth during the industrial revolution. War, including civil war, genocide Discrimination of various kinds, such as age discrimination, stereotyping, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, caste discrimination. Individual beliefs, actions and choices.