Economy

POVERTY

The Irish Government's National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007 defines poverty as: "People are living in poverty if their income and resources (material, cultural and social) are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living which is regarded as acceptable by society generally. As a result of inadequate income and other resources people may be excluded and marginalized from participating in activities which are considered the norm for other people in society." Based on this definition, we learn that people are living in poverty if they do not have enough money to do the things which are considered basic for human’s life. Some of them could be not having enough money to buy food for family, or not being able to afford to heat their home in winter… However, poverty is more than not having enough money for material things. It can also mean that people don't have money for social activities, and this may lead people feeling cut off from the society since they can not afford for the participation (www.neoperspectives.com/poverty)

Poverty has many causes, and some primary factors are: overpopulation, unequal distribution of resources in the world economy, inability to meet high standards of living and costs of living, inadequate education and employment opportunities, environmental degradation, certain economic, demographic trends, and welfare incentives (www.traveldocs.com/economy). According to National Action Plan for Social Inclusion, other factors contributing to poverty include: work, age, health, education and location. Specifically, if one being unemployed or in a low-paid job, he/she is more likely become to be poor. The older people and children whose parents are poor are on a greater risk of poverty than general population. People who left school early or without qualifications are also likely to experience poverty. Finally, those who live in a disadvantaged community or in an area with few employment opportunities also increase the risk of poverty (www.causeofpoverty.htm).

Poverty has a negative effect on people's quality of life. It closes the opportunities opening to people, and reduces people’s abilities to participate fully in society. For example, children who grow up in poor families are more likely to leave school early, and without qualifications, have to end up unemployed; poor people usually have low paid jobs and can not afford to make ends meet for their families. More than that, poverty leads to hunger. World hunger is a terrible symptom of world poverty. According to the United Nations, about 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes. To World Health Organization, poverty is the primary cause of malnutrition which is a major health problem in developing countries, killing thousands children all over the world everyday. The numbers of people dying for lacking food has been rapidly increasing, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa due to the droughts, wars, rapid population growth. In addition, poverty causes the infant mortality rate much higher and life expectancy rate much lower in low-income developing countries.

Debt is considered one of the most severe problems in poor nations. During the 1970s and early 1980s, developing countries accumulated a total foreign debt exceeding $1 trillion, which they found very difficult to pay back or even to pay service (Introduction to International Economics, pg 217). International Monetary Fund thus encourages developing nations to reduce imports, and to cut inflation, increase wage and adopt domestic programs, hopefully improve the situation.

Obviously, poverty is the silent killer of the development of human beings and society. Although such poverty and inequality are real, the reason how they last so long is still very ambiguous. Although poverty cannot be solved completely; however, there are several ways to eliminate poverty, such as generating more employment; raising the level of minimum education; making the social elite aware of the possibility of removing poverty; presenting the government concrete programmers of prosperity (www.poverty.com). In the latest news, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) advocated the key factors to reduce poverty would be the reduction in inequality and the reduction in income differences. On June 2006, they opened the 61st session of the General Assembly coordinating their work on migration with other United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the International Organization and the Global Migration Group (GMG), hoped to figure out certain solutions to help most developing nations (www.undp.org).

Vietnam is considered as a developing country. Although gaining many achievements in her economic, she is still a poor, densely-populated nation recovering from the ravages of war. Suffering from the loss of financial support from the old