Definition Of Poverty

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Poverty is like an itch that never seems to go away. From Manila to New York, it is undeniable that there are families that live in hardship. They live a life of adversity and they are faced with problems that can be easily solved if only they have the funds and resources. This is a reality that has plagued most, if not all, countries. So what is this reality of life called poverty? Poverty is defined by Merriam-Webster as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. When people hear of poverty, most people think of the people who don’t have anything; the last, the lost and the least. But contrary to what most people believe, there are actually two types of poverty. These are the income and non-income poverty. Income poverty is a type of poverty wherein the person is deprived of money and assets used to provide basic needs such as food and medicine. On the other hand, non-income poverty occurs when a person may have little money but their quality of life is poor. They do not have access to affordable services like schooling, health-care, safe water and the like. So what causes this worldwide dilemma? Primary factors that lead to poverty comprises of overpopulation, lack of knowledge and competence, unemployment and high standards of living. These are not all the causes but these are some of the leading causes. One of the lead causes of poverty is overpopulation. A certain place can only cater a certain amount of people. When we exceed that capacity, some people suffer from the lack of resources. The balance of the number of people in a certain area is very delicate. Too much is bad and too little is not good as well. For example, Bangladesh has the highest population density and they engage in low-production manual labor. This contributes the country’s high level of poverty. On the other hand, some places
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