3. Why are some people living on less than £1 a day while others are earning millions?
Most of these issues are not black and white. A lot of people will tell you a lot
of different things for a lot of different reasons. The key is to look further,
read between the lines and keep asking questions.
Tough question!
Actually it’s really two questions. The first is about poverty - why are people
living on less than £1 a day? And there are many answers to that. Lack of employment
opportunities, low wages and exploitation, environmental damage to farming land,
low prices for produce, conflict and war...
The second question is about inequality – why are most people poor while some are
incredibly rich? And exploring this issue reveals some of the same answers as asking
about poverty but gets a bit deeper. For example, people make a huge amount of money
because they sell products for a lot more than it costs to make them or buy them.
That’s just business. But in order to keep making money, especially if there is
competition from other people selling similar things, they need to keep finding
ways of reducing the amount it costs to buy and make things, including paying people
less, sacking staff, using up natural resources, etc. So while company bosses are
raking in the profit people actually producing the stuff are struggling.
And when politicians need to make decisions about this kind of situation whose voices
are likely to get heard the most, the producers or the business leaders?
The poorest 40 % of the world’s population earn only 5 % of global income, while
the richest 20 % earn 75% of world income. Whatever way you look at this just does
not seem right.
These are complicated issues, especially as the world is now so interconnected,
but if we have any hope of reducing poverty and inequality we have to get stuck
in, ask questions and be heard.
You can find lots of info and statistics about poverty here: www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
Check out the MakePovertyHistory and the End Poverty Campaign for info and ideas:
www.makepovertyhistory.org
www.endpoverty2015.org
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