what is poverty short essay

Talk to our experts

1800-120-456-456

Poverty Essay for Students in English

Essay on Poverty

Poverty is a disease that has no cure. The deeper this disease is, the deeper its wound. By the way, man lives under compulsion. But usually one wants to avoid it. Poverty is a condition of extreme poverty for any person or human being. This is a situation when a person starts to lack important things in his life such as the roof, necessary food, clothes, medicines, etc. to continue his life.

The causes of poverty are excessive population, fatal and contagious diseases, natural disasters, low agricultural yields, unemployment, casteism, illiteracy, gender inequality, environmental problems, changing trends in the economy of the country, untouchability, little or limited access to people's rights, Problems such as political violence, sponsored crime, corruption, lack of encouragement, inaction, ancient social beliefs, etc. have to be faced.

Poverty has become a big problem of the world, efforts are being made across the world today to remove poverty, but the problem is that it does not take the name of ending. This problem affects a human's economic and daily life. Poverty teaches man to live like a slave in which he has to change the place over time, in this situation due to the lack of education of the poor, his nature and speech also make a difference. Living in a world of poor people has become a curse. Getting enough money to get food is like getting relief from a curse for the poor, that's why they do not have access to education.

Reasons of Poverty

There are many reasons that have continued with carrying it for a long time. Because of this, freedom, mental and physical fitness, and lack of security in a person remains. It is very important that in order to live a normal life, the country and the whole world will have to work together to bring proper physical and mental health, complete education, a home for everyone, and other important things.

In today's time, there is the problem of poverty which gives all the pain, pain, and despair to the poor. Due to the lack of money from poverty, I show the lack of many things. Poverty makes children spend life in compulsion. If forced to make bread, sometimes in bringing children's books. At that time he is also unable to raise children.

We can tell poverty in many ways like it has become a common thing in India. Most of the people here are unable to get the things they need. Here a vast section of the population is illiterate, hungry, and forced to live without clothes and a home. About half of India's population suffers from this epidemic of poverty.

A poor person lives his life without possession of basic things like food for two times, clean water, house, clothes, proper education, etc. There are many reasons for poverty in India. Incorrect distribution of national income is also a reason. People in the low-income group are much poorer than those in the high-income group. Children of poor families never get proper education, nutrition, and a happy childhood environment. The main cause of poverty is illiteracy, corruption, growing population, weak agriculture, the growing gap between rich and poverty, etc.

Measures to Control Poverty

Corruption has to be erased.

Unemployed will have to give proper employment

A growing population will have to be stopped

Farmers have to be given proper facilities for farming

Education should be provided to children for proper education

Poverty is not just a human problem but it is a national problem. It should be solved by implementing some effective methods on a quick basis. Every person should be united by ending corruption. A problem has been created in which he does not get even the basics. That is why at present, many measures are being taken to prevent poverty so that the standard of living of people around the world can be improved.

Short Essays on Poverty

Poverty is akin to being a slave, as a person cannot achieve anything he desires. It has various faces that alter depending on who you are, where you are, and when. It can be defined in various ways depending on how a person feels or experiences it.

Poverty is a state that no one wants to be in, but it must be removed owing to cultural norms, natural disasters, or a lack of adequate education. The individual who is experiencing it frequently wishes to flee. Poverty is a call for poor people to earn enough money to eat, have access to education, have adequate shelter, dress appropriately, and take steps to protect themselves from social and political violence.

It's a problem that goes unnoticed yet significantly impacts a person's social life. Poverty is an entirely avoidable problem, but there are various reasons why it has persisted in the past.

Poverty robs people of their freedom, mental health, physical well-being, and security. Everyone must strive to eradicate poverty from the country and the world, ensuring appropriate physical and mental health, full literacy, a home for all, and other necessities for living a simple life.

When a person cannot do anything according to his will, he is said to be in poverty. Many different faces alter depending on who you are, where you are, and time. It can be characterized in a variety of ways, depending on how the person feels or what they have achieved. Poverty is a circumstance that no one wants to be in, even if it is forced upon them due to a lack of experience, nature, natural disasters, or a lack of suitable education. Humans have won it, but they prefer to stay away from it. Poverty is a call for needed clothing and protection against social and political violence for the poor to earn enough money to buy food, receive an education, and find a suitable place to live.

This is an unseen problem that harms a person's social life. Even though numerous factors have contributed to its long-term persistence, poverty is a perfectly preventable problem. As a result, a person's freedom, mental and physical well-being, and sense of security are all compromised. It is critical to bring poverty and poverty from worldwide to work together to live everyday life, provide adequate physical and mental health, complete education, a home for everyone, and other essential things.

FAQs on Poverty Essay for Students in English

1. What are the Effects of Poverty?

When people are not able to afford their basic necessities. For example medications and hospital fees are impossible to afford for that means they choose crook ways of obtaining money i.e. stealing, robbery, etc.

2. What are the Possible Ways to Remove Poverty?

Since India is a developing country, eliminating poverty here is much tougher than in other countries but still some measures can be taken and government assistance would be much helpful in this step which requires some relevant planning and policies for those who fall under the poverty line. Another major factor of poverty is illiteracy and unemployment. Therefore education is the most efficient tool to confine the poverty line in the country.

3. What is the Poverty Line?

The Below Poverty Line (BPL) signifies the state of people who fall under poverty status. It also symbolizes an economic drawback. In addition, it is used for people who are in need of help and assistance from the government.

4. What are the causes of poverty?

Poverty has several causes, including a lack of access to essentials such as water, food, shelter, education, and healthcare. Poverty is also caused by inequities such as gender or ethnic discrimination, bad governance, conflict, exploitation, and domestic violence. These disparities not only cause a person or a society to fall into poverty, but they can also prevent people from receiving social assistance that could help them get out of it. Due to political upheaval, past or present conflict, corrupt authorities, and lousy infrastructure that restricts access to education, clean water, healthcare, and other essentials, children and communities in fragile states confront greater poverty rates.

5. What can we do to put an end to extreme poverty?

We can aid in the eradication of extreme poverty by determining what causes it in a particular community and then determining what needs to change. Because poverty manifests itself differently in different regions and is caused by different circumstances, the work to end extreme poverty differs depending on the situation. More economic resources are needed to assist people in increasing their income and better providing for themselves and their families. To ensure that poverty does not return, the work must be sustainable, regardless of the solution. As a result, the community must be involved at every stage.

6. What criteria are used to assess poverty?

Each country's government determines poverty levels by conducting home surveys of its citizens. The World Bank, for example, assists and may conduct their surveys, although data collecting is time-consuming and slow. New high-frequency surveys are being created and tested, leveraging estimations and mobile phone technologies. If you want to learn more about these topics, download the Vedantu App that has been specifically designed and curated for students by experts.

7. What is the poverty cycle?

Poverty can be a catch-22 situation. To escape poverty, a person requires access to possibilities such as education, clean water, local medical services, and financial means. Poverty creates a generational cycle if these critical factors are not there. If parents cannot afford to take their children to school, they will struggle to find work when they grow up. Even natural disasters and conflicts can exacerbate the poverty cycle by bringing more people.

8. What are the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of goals for countries worldwide to work together in a global partnership for the benefit of people, the environment, and prosperity. The Sustainable Development Goals aim to abolish extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030 and to reduce the proportion of people living in poverty in all forms by at least half. In September 2015, the United Nations member states accepted this objective as one of 17 to end extreme poverty.

Short Essay on Poverty [100, 200, 400 Words] With PDF

In this lesson, you will learn to write short essays on Poverty . Here I will be writing three sets of essays on the same topic covering different word limits relevant for various exams.

Short essay on poverty in 100 words, short essay on poverty in 200 words, short essay on poverty in 400 words.

Poverty is when people do not have enough money to meet their basic needs including food, clean water, clothing, shelter and medical necessities. Today, more than 689 million people are living in poverty around the world. In India, about 6% of our total population of around 86 million people are poverty-stricken.

These people do not have enough to even eat two full meals a day. Many of them live on the streets and have no jobs. Those who have jobs work in extreme conditions and still do not get paid enough to provide for themselves or their families. Although governments around the world have taken measures to help these people, the situation wouldn’t get better unless better steps are taken to ensure that people get an education, enough food and an opportunity to live a dignified life.

Poverty is often described as a state in which people are unable to meet their basic needs including food, clean water, clothing and medical necessities because they do not have enough money. Today, more than 689 million people are living in poverty around the world.

These people often don’t get to eat two full meals a day. Many of them live on the streets, in deplorable conditions, without any proper access to clean water. And these people aren’t all adults, there are little children, old men and women as well as disabled people. Most of them cannot find jobs even if they try to. Those who do find a job have to often work in extreme, unhygienic and inhuman conditions where others wouldn’t dare to work.

Looking at the struggles of poverty-stricken people often makes one think about why do these poor people have to suffer so much. Now, on one hand, there are the mega-rich people who have more than they could ever need and on the other than there are extremely poor people who would be grateful if they could get one proper meal a day. If only we can bridge the gap between the two, everyone would be able to live well.

The governments around the world have taken some measures to help poverty-stricken people, but the situation wouldn’t really improve unless proper steps are taken to ensure that these people have the access to education, enough food and an opportunity to live a dignified life.

The father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, once said – “poverty is the worst form of violence”. And it is true indeed. Poverty is when people do not have enough money to meet their basic needs including food, clean water, clothing, shelter and medical necessities. Today, more than 689 million people are living in poverty around the world.

Many of them live on the streets, in deplorable conditions, without any proper access to clean water, and don’t have food as well. When we compare this to the huge number of millionaires and billionaires we have in this world, it does paint a really cruel picture.

Looking at the struggles of poverty-stricken people often makes one think about why do these poor people have to suffer so much. We have more than enough resources on this planet to provide for everyone.

The mega-rich in this world have more than they would ever need while the people living below the poverty line would be grateful if they could even get one proper meal a day. If only we could bridge this gap and bring everyone together, if only we could share what we have and help each other, there wouldn’t be so much suffering in this world. But the reality is that in this capitalist world, most people lack compassion and do not want to share.

The governments make some policies here and some changes there and make it seem like they are going to deal with the issues but by the time the help actually reaches those in need, it is negligible.

The effects of poverty on a person’s life are manifold. A poor person who doesn’t have enough to buy bread for himself or his family can not think of sending his children to school. These kids who remain uneducated do not get the opportunity in life to rise above their situation or do something good for themselves and end up repeating the same cycle.

Some families remain poverty-stricken for generations, not knowing how to find a way out of it. Their situation can only improve if the government makes proper plans to provide education, food, shelter and jobs for them. It is important that the plan doesn’t just stay on the paper but is actually put to action.

People who live below the poverty line are also human beings like us. We must always remember that and do our best to help them. Everyone deserves to live a dignified life.

In this session, I’ve discussed the topic of poverty from a very wide perspective in simple words that everybody understands. If you still have any doubts regarding the topic, kindly let me know through the comment section below.

Join us on Telegram to get all the latest updates on our upcoming sessions. Thank you.

7 Essays About Poverty: Example Essays and Prompts

Essays about poverty give valuable insight into the economic situation that we share globally. Read our guide with poverty essay examples and prompts for your paper.

In the US, the official poverty rate in 2022 was 11.5 percent, with 37.9 million people living below the poverty line. With a global pandemic, cost of living crisis, and climate change on the rise, we’ve seen poverty increase due to various factors. As many of us face adversity daily, we can look to essays about poverty from some of the world’s greatest speakers for inspiration and guidance.

There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American citizen whether he be a hospital worker, laundry worker, maid or day laborer. There is nothing except shortsightedness to prevent us from guaranteeing an annual minimum—and livable—income for every American family. Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?

Writing a poverty essay can be challenging due to the many factors contributing to poverty and the knock-on effects of living below the poverty line . For example, homelessness among low-income individuals stems from many different causes.

It’s important to note that poverty exists beyond the US, with many developing countries living in extreme poverty without access to essentials like clean water and housing. For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers .

Essays About Poverty: Top Examples

1. pensioner poverty: fear of rise over decades as uk under-40s wealth falls, 2. the surprising poverty levels across the u.s., 3. why poverty persists in america, 4. post-pandemic poverty is rising in america’s suburbs.

5. The Basic Facts About Children in Poverty
6. The State of America’s Children
7. COVID-19: This is how many Americans now live below the poverty line

10 Poverty Essay Topics

1. the causes of poverty, 2. the negative effects of poverty, 3. how countries can reduce poverty rates, 4. the basic necessities and poverty, 5. how disabilities can lead to poverty, 6. how the cycle of poverty unfolds , 7. universal basic income and its relationship to poverty, 8. interview someone who has experience living in poverty, 9. the impact of the criminal justice system on poverty, 10. the different ways to create affordable housing.

There is growing concern about increasing pensioner poverty in the UK in the coming decades. Due to financial challenges like the cost of living crisis, rent increases, and the COVID-19 pandemic, under 40s have seen their finances shrink.

Osborne discusses the housing wealth gap in this article, where many under the 40s currently pay less in a pension due to rent prices. While this means they will have less pension available, they will also retire without owning a home, resulting in less personal wealth than previous generations. Osborne delves into the causes and gaps in wealth between generations in this in-depth essay.

“Those under-40s have already been identified as facing the biggest hit from rising mortgage rates , and last week a study by the financial advice firm Hargreaves Lansdown found that almost a third of 18- to 34-year-olds had stopped or cut back on their pension contributions in order to save money.” Hilary Osborne, The Guardian

In this 2023 essay, Jeremy Ney looks at the poverty levels across the US, stating that poverty has had the largest one-year increase in history. According to the most recent census, child poverty has more than doubled from 2021 to 2022.

Ney states that the expiration of government support and inflation has created new financial challenges for US families. With the increased cost of living and essential items like food and housing sharply increasing, more and more families have fallen below the poverty line. Throughout this essay, Ney displays statistics and data showing the wealth changes across states, ethnic groups, and households.

“Poverty in America reflects the inequality that plagues U.S. households. While certain regions have endured this pain much more than others, this new rising trend may spell ongoing challenges for even more communities.” Jeremy Ney, TIME

Essays About Poverty: How countries can reduce poverty rates?

In this New York Times article, a Pulitzer Prize-winning sociologist explores why poverty exists in North America.

The American poor have access to cheap, mass-produced goods, as every American does. But that doesn’t mean they can access what matters most. Matthew Desmond, The New York Times

The U.S. Census Bureau recently released its annual data on poverty, revealing contrasting trends for 2022. While one set of findings indicated that the overall number of Americans living in poverty remained stable compared to the previous two years, another survey highlighted a concerning increase in child poverty. The rate of child poverty in the U.S. doubled from 2021 to 2022, a spike attributed mainly to the cessation of the expanded child tax credit following the pandemic. These varied outcomes underscore the Census Bureau’s multifaceted methods to measure poverty.

“The nation’s suburbs accounted for the majority of increases in the poor population following the onset of the pandemic” Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube, Brookings

5. The Basic Facts About Children in Poverty

Nearly 11 million children are living in poverty in America. This essay explores ow the crisis reached this point—and what steps must be taken to solve it.

“In America, nearly 11 million children are poor. That’s 1 in 7 kids, who make up almost one-third of all people living in poverty in this country.” Areeba Haider, Center for American Progress

6. The State of America’s Children

This essay articles how, despite advancements, children continue to be the most impoverished demographic in the U.S., with particular subgroups — such as children of color, those under five, offspring of single mothers, and children residing in the South — facing the most severe poverty levels.

“Growing up in poverty has wide-ranging, sometimes lifelong, effects on children, putting them at a much higher risk of experiencing behavioral, social, emotional, and health challenges. Childhood poverty also plays an instrumental role in impairing a child’s ability and capacity to learn, build skills, and succeed academically.” Children’s Defense Fund

7. COVID-19: This is how many Americans now live below the poverty line

This essay explores how the economic repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic 2020 led to a surge in U.S. poverty rates, with unemployment figures reaching unprecedented heights. The writer provides data confirming that individuals at the lowest economic strata bore the brunt of these challenges, indicating that the recession might have exacerbated income disparities, further widening the chasm between the affluent and the underprivileged.

“Poverty in the U.S. increased in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic hammered the economy and unemployment soared. Those at the bottom of the economic ladder were hit hardest, new figures confirm, suggesting that the recession may have widened the gap between the rich and the poor.” Elena Delavega, World Econmic Forum

If you’re tasked with writing an essay about poverty, consider using the below topics. They offer pointers for outlining and planning an essay about this challenging topic.

One of the most specific poverty essay topics to address involves the causes of poverty. You can craft an essay to examine the most common causes of extreme poverty. Here are a few topics you might want to include:

Racial discrimination, particularly among African Americans, has been a common cause of poverty throughout American history. Discrimination and racism can make it hard for people to get the education they need, making it nearly impossible to get a job.
A lack of access to adequate health care can also lead to poverty. When people do not have access to healthcare, they are more likely to get sick. This could make it hard for them to go to work while also leading to major medical bills.
Inadequate food and water can lead to poverty as well. If people’s basic needs aren’t met, they focus on finding food and water instead of getting an education they can use to find a better job.

These are just a few of the most common causes of poverty you might want to highlight in your essay. These topics could help people see why some people are more likely to become impoverished than others. You might also be interested in these essays about poverty .

Poverty affects everyone, and the impacts of an impoverished lifestyle are very real. Furthermore, the disparities when comparing adult poverty to child poverty are also significant. This opens the doors to multiple possible essay topics. Here are a few points to include:

When children live in poverty, their development is stunted. For example, they might not be able to get to school on time due to a lack of transportation, making it hard for them to keep up with their peers. Child poverty also leads to malnutrition, which can stunt their development.
Poverty can impact familial relationships as well. For example, members of the same family could fight for limited resources, making it hard for family members to bond. In addition, malnutrition can stunt the growth of children.
As a side effect of poverty, people have difficulty finding a safe place to live. This creates a challenging environment for everyone involved, and it is even harder for children to grow and develop.
When poverty leads to homelessness, it is hard for someone to get a job. They don’t have an address to use for physical communication, which leads to employment concerns.

These are just a few of the many side effects of poverty. Of course, these impacts are felt by people across the board, but it is not unusual for children to feel the effects of poverty that much more. You might also be interested in these essays about unemployment .

Different countries take different approaches to reduce the number of people living in poverty

The issue of poverty is a major human rights concern, and many countries explore poverty reduction strategies to improve people’s quality of life. You might want to examine different strategies that different countries are taking while also suggesting how some countries can do more. A few ways to write this essay include:

Explore the poverty level in America, comparing it to the poverty level of a European country. Then, explore why different countries take different strategies.
Compare the minimum wage in one state, such as New York, to the minimum wage in another state, such as Alabama. Why is it higher in one state? What does raising the minimum wage do to the cost of living?
Highlight a few advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations actively lobbying their governments to do more for low-income families. Then, talk about why some efforts are more successful than others.

Different countries take different approaches to reduce the number of people living in poverty. Poverty within each country is such a broad topic that you could write a different essay on how poverty could be decreased within the country. For more, check out our list of simple essays topics for intermediate writers .

You could also write an essay on the necessities people need to survive. You could take a look at information published by the United Nations , which focuses on getting people out of the cycle of poverty across the globe. The social problem of poverty can be addressed by giving people the necessities they need to survive, particularly in rural areas. Here are some of the areas you might want to include:

Affordable housing
Fresh, healthy food and clean water
Access to an affordable education
Access to affordable healthcare

Giving everyone these necessities could significantly improve their well-being and get people out of absolute poverty. You might even want to talk about whether these necessities vary depending on where someone is living.

There are a lot of medical and social issues that contribute to poverty, and you could write about how disabilities contribute to poverty. This is one of the most important essay topics because people could be disabled through no fault of their own. Some of the issues you might want to address in this essay include:

Talk about the road someone faces if they become disabled while serving overseas. What is it like for people to apply for benefits through the Veterans’ Administration?
Discuss what happens if someone becomes disabled while at work. What is it like for someone to pursue disability benefits if they are hurt doing a blue-collar job instead of a desk job?
Research and discuss the experiences of disabled people and how their disability impacts their financial situation.

People who are disabled need to have money to survive for many reasons, such as the inability to work, limitations at home, and medical expenses. A lack of money, in this situation, can lead to a dangerous cycle that can make it hard for someone to be financially stable and live a comfortable lifestyle.

Many people talk about the cycle of poverty, yet many aren’t entirely sure what this means or what it entails. A few key points you should address in this essay include:

When someone is born into poverty, income inequality can make it hard to get an education.
A lack of education makes it hard for someone to get into a good school, which gives them the foundation they need to compete for a good job.
A lack of money can make it hard for someone to afford college, even if they get into a good school.
Without attending a good college, it can be hard for someone to get a good job. This makes it hard for someone to support themselves or their families.
Without a good paycheck, it is nearly impossible for someone to keep their children out of poverty, limiting upward mobility into the middle class.

The problem of poverty is a positive feedback loop. It can be nearly impossible for those who live this every day to escape. Therefore, you might want to explore a few initiatives that could break the cycle of world poverty and explore other measures that could break this feedback loop.

Many business people and politicians have floated the idea of a universal basic income to give people the basic resources they need to survive. While this hasn’t gotten a lot of serious traction, you could write an essay to shed light on this idea. A few points to hit on include:

What does a universal basic income mean, and how is it distributed?
Some people are concerned about the impact this would have on taxes. How would this be paid for?
What is the minimum amount of money someone would need to stay out of poverty? Is it different in different areas?
What are a few of the biggest reasons major world governments haven’t passed this?

This is one of the best essay examples because it gives you a lot of room to be creative. However, there hasn’t been a concrete structure for implementing this plan, so you might want to afford one.

Another interesting topic you might want to explore is interviewing someone living in poverty or who has been impoverished. While you can talk about statistics all day, they won’t be as powerful as interviewing someone who has lived that life. A few questions you might want to ask during your interview include:

What was it like growing up?
How has living in poverty made it hard for you to get a job?
What do you feel people misunderstand about those who live in poverty?
When you need to find a meal, do you have a place you go to? Or is it somewhere different every day?
What do you think is the main contributor to people living in poverty?

Remember that you can also craft different questions depending on your responses. You might want to let the interviewee read the essay when you are done to ensure all the information is accurate and correct.

The criminal justice system and poverty tend to go hand in hand. People with criminal records are more likely to be impoverished for several reasons. You might want to write an essay that hits on some of these points:

Discuss the discriminatory practices of the criminal justice system both as they relate to socioeconomic status and as they relate to race.
Explore just how hard it is for someone to get a job if they have a criminal record. Discuss how this might contribute to a life of poverty.
Dive into how this creates a positive feedback loop. For example, when someone cannot get a job due to a criminal record, they might have to steal to survive, which worsens the issue.
Review what the criminal justice system might be like for someone with resources when compared to someone who cannot afford to hire expert witnesses or pay for a good attorney.

You might want to include a few examples of disparate sentences for people in different socioeconomic situations to back up your points.

The different ways to create affordable housing

Affordable housing can make a major difference when someone is trying to escape poverty

Many poverty-related problems could be reduced if people had access to affordable housing. While the cost of housing has increased dramatically in the United States , some initiatives exist to create affordable housing. Here are a few points to include:

Talk about public programs that offer affordable housing to people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Discuss private programs, such as Habitat for Humanity , doing similar things.
Review the positive impacts that stable housing has on both adults and children.
Dive into other measures local and federal governments could take to provide more affordable housing for people.

There are a lot of political and social angles to address with this essay, so you might want to consider spreading this out across multiple papers. Affordable housing can make a major difference when trying to escape poverty. If you want to learn more, check out our essay writing tips !

Meet Rachael, the editor at Become a Writer Today. With years of experience in the field, she is passionate about language and dedicated to producing high-quality content that engages and informs readers. When she's not editing or writing, you can find her exploring the great outdoors, finding inspiration for her next project.

View all posts

390 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

📑 Aspects to Cover in a Poverty Essay

Students who learn economics, politics, and social sciences are often required to write a poverty essay as part of their course. While everyone understands the importance of this topic, it can be hard to decide what to write about. Read this post to find out the aspects that you should cover in your essay on poverty.

🏆 Best Poverty Topics & Free Essay Examples

👍 powerful topics on poverty and inequality, 🎓 simple & easy topics related to poverty, 📌 interesting poverty essay examples, ⭐ strong poverty-related topics, 🥇 unique poverty topics for argumentative essay, ❓ research questions about poverty.

Topics related to poverty and inequality might seem too broad. There are so many facts, factors, and aspects you should take into consideration. However, we all know that narrowing down a topic is one of the crucial steps when working on an outline and thesis statement. You should be specific enough to select the right arguments for your argumentative essay or dissertation. Below, you will find some aspects to include in your poverty essay.

Poverty Statistics

First of all, it would be beneficial to include some background information on the issue. Statistics on poverty in your country or state can help you to paint a picture of the problem. Look for official reports on poverty and socioeconomic welfare, which can be found on government websites. While you are writing this section, consider the following:

What is the overall level of poverty in your country or state?
Has the prevalence of poverty changed over time? If yes, how and why?
Are there any groups or communities where poverty is more prevalent than in the general population? What are they?

Causes of Poverty

If you look at poverty essay titles, the causes of poverty are a popular theme among students. While some people may think that poverty occurs because people are lazy and don’t want to work hard, the problem is much more important than that. Research books and scholarly journal articles on the subject with these questions in mind:

Why do some groups of people experience poverty more often than others?
What are the historical causes of poverty in your country?
How is poverty related to other social issues, such as discrimination, immigration, and crime?
How do businesses promote or reduce poverty in the community?

Consequences of Poverty

Many poverty essay examples also consider the consequences of poverty for individuals and communities. This theme is particularly important if you study social sciences or politics. Here are some questions that may give you ideas for this section:

How is the psychological well-being of individuals affected by poverty?
How is poverty connected to crime and substance abuse?
How does poverty affect individuals’ access to high-quality medical care and education?
What is the relationship between poverty and world hunger?

Government Policies

Governments of most countries have policies in place to reduce poverty and help those in need. In your essay, you may address the policies used in your state or country or compare several different governments in terms of their approaches to poverty. Here is what you should think about:

What are some examples of legislation aimed at reducing poverty?
Do laws on minimum wage help to prevent and decrease poverty? Why or why not?
How do governments help people who are poor to achieve higher levels of social welfare?
Should governments provide financial assistance to those in need? Why or why not?

Solutions to Poverty

Solutions to poverty are among the most popular poverty essay topics, and you will surely find many sample papers and articles on this subject. This is because poverty is a global issue that must be solved to facilitate social development. Considering these questions in your poverty essay conclusion or main body will help you in getting an A:

What programs or policies proved to be effective in reducing poverty locally?
Is there a global solution to poverty that would be equally effective in all countries?
How can society facilitate the reduction of poverty?
What solutions would you recommend to decrease and prevent poverty?

Covering a few of these aspects in your essay will help you demonstrate the in-depth understanding and analysis required to earn a high mark. Before you start writing, have a look around our website for more essay titles, tips, and interesting topics!

Poverty Research Proposal To justify this, the recent and most current statistics from the Census Bureau shows that the level and rate of poverty in USA is increasing, with minority ethnic groups being the most disadvantaged.
Poverty: A Sociological Imagination Perspective I was raised in a nuclear family, where my mum was a housewife, and my father worked in a local hog farm as the overall manager.
“The Singer Solution to World Poverty” by Peter Singer The article “The Singer Solution to World Poverty” by author Peter Singer attempts to provide a workable solution to the world poverty problem.
Poverty and the Environment The human population affects the environment negatively due to poverty resulting to environmental degradation and a cycle of poverty. Poverty and the environment are interlinked as poverty leads to degradation of the environment.
Poverty Areas and Effects on Juvenile Delinquency The desire to live a better life contributes to the youths engaging in crimes, thus the increase in cases of juvenile delinquencies amid low-income families. The studies indicate that the fear of poverty is the […]
Poverty in Africa These pictures have been published online to show the world the gravity of the poverty situation in the African continent. The pictures represent the suffering of majority of the African people as a result of […]
Poverty in the World In this paper, we will be looking at the situation of poverty in the world, its causes and the efforts of the international organizations to manage the same.
The End of Poverty Philippe Diaz’s documentary, The End of Poverty, is a piece that attempts to dissect the causes of the huge economic inequalities that exist between countries in the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere.
Max Weber’s Thoughts on Poverty Weber has contributed to the exploration of the origins of poverty and the impact of religions on the attitude to it.
Is Poverty a Choice or a Generational Curse? The assumption that poverty is a choice persists in public attitudes and allows policy-makers to absolve themselves of any responsibility for ensuring the well-being of the lower socioeconomic stratum of society.
Analysis of Theodore Dalrymple’s “What Is Poverty?” With ethical arguments from Burnor, it can be argued that Dalrymple’s statements are shallow and based on his values and not the experience of those he is judging.
The Philippines’ Unemployment, Inequality, Poverty However, despite the strong emphasis of the government on income equality and poverty reduction along with the growth of GDP, both poverty and economic and social inequality remain persistent in the Philippines.
Children Living in Poverty and Education The presence of real subjects like children is a benefit for the future of the nation and a free education option for poor families to learn something new and even use it if their children […]
Poverty Effects on Child Development and Schooling To help children from low-income families cope with poverty, interventions touching in the child’s development and educational outcomes are essential. Those programs campaign against the effects of poverty among children by providing basic nutritional, academic, […]
The Problem of Poverty in Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” To see the situation from the perspective of its social significance, it is necessary to refer to Mills’ concept of sociological imagination and to the division of problems and issues into personal and social ones.
The Singer Solution to World Poverty: Arguments Against The article compares the lives of people in the developed world represented by America and that of developing world represented by Brazil; It is about a school teacher who sells a young boy for adoption […]
Community Work: Helping People in Poverty The first project would be water project since you find that in most villages water is a problem, hence $100 would go to establishing this project and it’s out of these water then the women […]
Cause and Effect of Poverty For example, the disparities in income and wealth are considered as a sign of poverty since the state is related to issues of scarcity and allocation of resources and influence.
What Causes Poverty in the World One of the major factors that have contributed to poverty in given areas of the world is overpopulation. Environmental degradation in many parts of the world has led to the increase of poverty in the […]
Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development The research focuses on the causes of poverty and the benefits of poverty alleviation in achieving sustainable development. One of the causes of poverty is discrimination and social inequality.
Relationship Between Crime Rates and Poverty This shows that the strength of the relationship between the crime index and people living below the line of poverty is.427.
Poverty in Bambara’s The Lesson and Danticat’s A Wall of Fire Rising It is important to note the fact that culture-based poverty due to discrimination of the past or political ineffectiveness of the nation can have a profound ramification in the lives of its victims.
Social Issues of Families in Poverty With the tightened budget, parents of the families living in poverty struggle to make ends meet, and in the course of their struggles, they experience many stresses and depressions.
The Myth of the Culture of Poverty Unfortunately, rather all of the stereotypes regarding poor people are widespread in many societies and this has served to further increase the problem of generational poverty. Poor people are regarded to be in the state […]
Poverty in Urban Areas The main reason for escalation of the problem of poverty is urban areas is because the intricate problems of urban poverty are considered too small to attract big policies.
Poverty Through a Sociological Lens Poverty-stricken areas, such as slums, rural villages, and places hit by disasters, lack the required economic activities to improve the employment and wealth status of the people.
Poverty in Rural and Urban Areas My main focus is on articles explaining the sources of poverty in rural and urban areas and the key difference between the two.
Health, Poverty, and Social Equity: The Global Response to the Ebola Outbreak Canada and Australia, as well as several countries in the Middle East and Africa, were the most active proponents of this ban, halting the movements for both people and goods from states affected by the […]
Poverty and Global Food Crisis: Food and Agriculture Model Her innovative approach to the issue was to measure food shortages in calories as opposed to the traditional method of measuring in pounds and stones.
Social Issues; Crime and Poverty in Camden This has threatened the social security and peaceful coexistence of the people in the community. The larger the differences between the poor and the rich, the high are the chances of crime.
Reflective Analysis of Poverty It can be further classified into absolute poverty where the affected do not have the capability to make ends meet, and relative poverty which refer to the circumstances under which the afflicted do not have […]
Poverty, Government and Unequal Distribution of Wealth in Philippines The author of the book Poverty And The Critical Security Agenda, Eadie, added: Quantitative analyses of poverty have become more sophisticated over the years to be sure, yet remain problematic and in certain ways rooted […]
Global Poverty: The Ethical Dilemma Unfortunately, a significant obstacle to such global reforms is that many economic systems are based on the concept of inequality and exploitation.
Poverty Simulation Reflection and Its Influence on Life Something that stood out to me during the process is probably the tremendous emotional and psychological impact of poverty on a person’s wellbeing.
Tourism Contribution to Poverty Reduction Managers usually make targeting errors such as poor delivery of tourism benefits to the poor and accruing tourism benefit to the rich in the society.
The Problem of Poverty in Chad Thus, the study of the causes of poverty in the Republic of Chad will help to form a complete understanding of the problem under study and find the most effective ways to solve it.
Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality? & How to Judge Globalism The article Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality by Robert Hunter Wade explores the phenomenon of globalization and its influence on the poverty and inequality ratios all over the world.
Analysis of a Social Problem: Poverty Furthermore, the World Bank predicts that both the number of people and the percentage of the population living in extreme poverty will increase in 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Poverty and Diseases A usual line of reasoning would be that low income is the main cause of health-related problems among vulnerable individuals. Such results that the relationship between mental health and poverty is, in fact, straightforward.
Marginalization and Poverty of Rural Women The women are left to take care of the economic welfare of the households. I will also attempt to propose a raft of recommendations to alleviate poverty and reduce marginalization of women in the rural […]
Poverty in Orwell’s “Down and Out in Paris and London” The fact that the structure of society is discussed is especially interesting, and it is suggested that opinions of people that live in poverty are not acknowledged most of the time.
Environmental Degradation and Poverty It is however important to understand the causes of the environmental degradation and the ways to reduce them, which will promote the improvement of the environmental quality.
Consumerism: Affecting Families Living in Poverty in the United States Hence, leading to the arising of consumerism protection acts and policies designed to protect consumers from dishonest sellers and producers, which indicates the high degree of consumer’s ignorance, and hence failure to make decisions of […]
Poverty as Capability Deprivation In this paper, the importance of social justice manifests through the understanding of social deprivation, as opposed to the understanding of income levels in the achievement of social justice.
Poverty in the Bronx: Negative Effects of Poverty South Bronx is strictly the southwestern part of the borough of Bronx and Bronx is the only borough in New York city in the mainland.
Poverty and Homelessness as a Global Social Problem What makes the task of defining poverty particularly difficult is the discrepancy in the distribution of social capital and, therefore, the resulting differences in the understanding of what constitutes poverty, particularly, where the line should […]
“The Hidden Reason for Poverty…” by Haugen It is also noteworthy that some groups of people are specifically vulnerable and join the arrays of those living in poverty.
Dependency Theory and “The End of Poverty?” It is also reflected in the film “The End of Poverty?” narrating the circumstances of poor countries and their precondition. It started at the end of the fifteenth century and marked the beginning of the […]
The Problems of Poverty and Hunger Subsequently, the cause in this case serves as a path to a solution – more social programs are needed, and wealthy citizens should be encouraged to become beneficiaries for the hungry.
“Life on a Shoestring – American Kids Living in Poverty” by Claycomb Life on a Shoestring – American Kids Living in Poverty highlights the widening disparity between the poor and the wealthy in America and how the economic systems are set up to benefit the rich and […]
Poverty in “A Modest Proposal” by Swift The high number of children born to poor families presents significant problems for a country.”A Modest Proposal” is a satirical essay by Jonathan Swift that proposes a solution to the challenge facing the kingdom.
Poverty: $2.00 a Day in America When conversations about the poor occur in the city of Washington, they usually discuss the struggles of the working poor, forgetting about the issues that the non-working poor face day by day.
“Facing Poverty With a Rich Girl’s Habits” by Suki Kim Finally, revealing the problems of adapting to a new social status, the story turns remarkably complex, which also lends it a certain charm.
Concept of Poverty The main difference between this definition and other definitions of poverty highlighted in this paper is the broad understanding of the concept.
Poverty in Brazil The primary aim of the exploration was to relate and construe the experimental findings arising from the application of the FGT poverty standards reformulation to Brazilian domestic examination data.
Inequality and Poverty Relationship To begin with, it is necessary to define the concepts of poverty and inequality. As of inequality, it is the difference in access to income, power, education, and whatever.
How Poverty Contributes to Poor Heath The results show that poverty is the main cause of poor health. The study was purposed to assess the effect of poverty in determining the health status of households.
Global Poverty Project: A Beacon of Hope in the Fight Against Extreme Poverty The organization works with partners worldwide to increase awareness and understanding of global poverty and inspire people to take action to end it.
The Causes of an Increase in Poverty in Atlanta, Georgia The key causes of the high poverty rise in the city include housing policies and instabilities, the lack of transit services and public transportation infrastructure in suburban areas, and childhood poverty.
Thistle Farms: Help for Women Who Are Affected by Poverty As I said in the beginning, millions of women need help and assistance from the community to overcome poverty and heal emotional wounds caused by abuse. You can purchase a variety of its home and […]
Median Household Incomes and Poverty Levels The patterns of poverty in the Denver urban area show that rates are higher in the inner suburb and the core city and lower in the outer suburb.
Poverty: The American Challenge One of the main problems in the world is the problem of poverty, which means the inability to provide the simplest and most affordable living conditions for most people in a given country.
The Poverty Issue From a Sociological Perspective The core of the perspective is the idea that poverty is a system in which multiple elements are intertwined and create outcomes linked to financial deficits.
Saving the Planet by Solving Poverty The data is there to make the necessary links, which are needed when it comes to the economic variations and inadequate environmental impacts of climate change can be distinguished on a worldwide scale.
Anti-Poverty Programs From the Federal Government The programs provide financial assistance to low-income individuals and families to cover basic needs like housing and food. The anti-poverty programs that have been most effective in reducing poverty rates in the United States are […]
Rural Development, Economic Inequality and Poverty The percentage of the rural population is lower for developed countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Thus, the objective of the proposal is to determine how the inhabitants of the country in […]
Global Poverty: Ways of Combating For example, one of such initiatives is social assistance and social protection programs, which ensure the safety and creation of various labor programs that will help increase the number of the working population.
Poverty: Aspects of Needs Assessment The target neighborhood and population for the following analysis are women of reproductive age, defined as 15 to 49 years, in Elmhurst and Corona, Queens. 2, and the percentage of births to women aged over […]
What Is Poverty in the United States? Estimates of the amount of income required to meet necessities serve as the foundation for both the official and supplemental poverty measurements.
The Caribbean Culture: Energy Security and Poverty Issues Globally, Latin American and the Caribbean also has the most expensive energy products and services because of fuel deprivation in the Caribbean and the Pacific regions.
Poverty: The Main Causes and Factors Because of the constant process of societal development, the concept of poverty changes rapidly, adapting to the new standards of modern human life.
How to Overcome Poverty and Discrimination As such, to give a chance to the “defeated” children and save their lives, as Alexie puts it, society itself must change the rules so that everyone can have access to this ticket to success. […]
Poverty and Homelessness in American Society It is connected with social segregation, stigmatization, and the inability of the person to improve their conditions of life. The problem of affordable housing and poverty among older adults is another problem that leads to […]
Private Sector’s Role in Poverty Alleviation in Asia The ambition of Asia to become the fastest-growing economic region worldwide has led to a rapid rise of enterprises in the private sector.
Connection of Poverty and Education The economy of the United States has been improving due to the efforts that have been made to ensure that poverty will not prevent individuals and families from having access to decent education.
The Opportunity for All Program: Poverty Reduction The limiting factors of the program may be the actions of the population itself, which will not participate in the employment program because of the realized benefits.
Early Childhood Financial Support and Poverty The mentioned problem is a direct example of such a correlation: the general poverty level and the well-being of adults are connected with the early children’s material support.
Discussion: Poverty and Healthcare One of the research questions necessary to evaluate this issue is “How do ethical theories apply to the issue?” Another critical research question worth exploring is “Which cultural values and norms influence the problem?” These […]
Explosive Growth of Poverty in America The three richest Americans now own 250 billion USD, approximately the same amount of combined wealth as the bottom 50 percent of the country. Wealth inequality is a disturbing issue that needs to be at […]
Global Poverty: Famine, Affluence, and Morality In the article Famine, Affluence, and Morality, Michael Slote contends that rich people have a moral obligation to contribute more to charities.
The Poverty and Education Quality Relationship Although the number of people living under the poverty threshold has decreased in the last 30 years, more than 800,000,000 people still have to live with insufficient money and a lack of food, water, and […]
Decreasing Poverty With College Enrollment Program In order to achieve that, it is necessary, first and foremost, to increase the high school students’ awareness of the financial aid programs, possibilities of dual enrollment, and the overall reality of higher education.
Reducing Poverty in the North Miami Beach Community The proposed intervention program will focus on the students in the last semester of the 9th and 10th grades and the first semester of the 11th and 12th grades attending the client schools.
Food Banks Board Members and Cycle of Poverty What this suggests is that a large portion of the leadership within these collectives aim to provide assistance and food but not to challenge the current system that fosters the related issues of poverty, unemployment, […]
Poverty as a Social Problem in Burundi The rationale for studying poverty as a social problem in Burundi is that it will help to combat poverty through the advocacy plan at the end of this paper.
Poverty: Subsidizing Programs Subsidizing programs are considered welfare and net initiatives that the government takes to aid low-income families and individuals affected by poverty.
“Poverty, Toxic Stress, and Education…” Study by Kelly & Li Kelly and Li are concerned with the lack of research about poverty and toxic stress affecting the neurodevelopment of preterm children.
Life Below the Poverty Line in the US The major problem with poverty in the US is that the number of people living below the poverty threshold is gradually increasing despite the economic growth of the country. SNAP is not considered to be […]
The Relationship Between Single-Parent Households and Poverty The given literature review will primarily focus on the theoretical and empirical aspects of the relationship between single-parent households and poverty, as well as the implications of the latter on mental health issues, such as […]
Aspects of Social Work and Poverty In terms of work principle, both the poor working and the welfare poor have it to varying degrees, but it does not help them much because the only employment available is low paying and leads […]
Poverty and Its Effect on Adult Health Poverty in the UK is currently above the world average, as more than 18% of the population lives in poverty. In 2020, 7% of the UK population lived in extreme poverty and 11% lived in […]
Child Poverty in the United States The causes of child poverty in the United States cannot be separated from the grounds of adult poverty. Thus, it is essential to take care of the well-being of children living in poverty.
Poverty in New York City, and Its Reasons The poverty rate for seniors in New York is twice the poverty rate in the United States. New York City’s blacks and Hispanics have a much higher poverty rate than whites and Asians in the […]
Juvenile Violent Crime and Children Below Poverty The effect of this trend is that the number of children below poverty will continue to be subjected to the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
Poverty and Homelessness as Social Problem The qualifications will include a recommendation from the community to ensure that the person is open to help and willing to be involved in the neighborhood of Non-Return.
Discussion of the Problem of the Poverty To help prevent homelessness for the woman in question and her children, I think it would be essential to provide mental support for her not to turn to alcohol and drugs as a coping mechanism.
Poverty Effects and How They Are Handled Quality jobs will provide income to the younger people and women in the community. The focus on developing and facilitating small and medium-sized enterprises is a great strategy but more needs to be done in […]
Feminization of Poverty and Governments’ Role in Solving the Problem However, women form the greatest percentage of the poor, and the problem continues to spread. Furthermore, the public supports available are inaccessible and inadequate to cater for women’s needs.
Free-Trade Policies and Poverty Level in Bangladesh The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which the end of the quota system and introduction of a free-trade system for the garment industry in Bangladesh has impacted on poverty in […]
Poverty and Risks Associated With Poverty Adolescents that are at risk of being malnourished can be consulted about the existing programs that provide free food and meals to families in poverty.
Poverty and Inequality Reduction Strategies Thus, comprehending the causes of poverty and inequalities, understanding the role of globalization, and learning various theoretical arguments can lead to the establishment of appropriate policy recommendations.
International Aid – Poverty Inc This film, the research on the impact of aid on the states receiving it, and the economic outcomes of such actions suggest that aid is a part of the problem and not a solution to […]
Poverty Effects on American Children and Adolescents The extent to which poor financial status influences the wellbeing of the young children and adolescents is alarming and needs immediate response from the community.
Progress and Poverty Book by Henry George George wrote the book following his recognition that poverty is the central puzzle of the 20th century. Thus, George’s allegation is inconsistent with nature because the number of living organisms can increase to the extent […]
Vicious Circle of Poverty in Brazil The vicious circle of poverty is “a circular constellation of forces that tend to act and react on each other in such a way that the country in poverty maintains its poor state”.
Global Education as the Key Tool for Addressing the Third World Poverty Issue Global education leads to improvements in the state economy and finances. Global education helps resolve the unemployment problem.
Poverty, Partner Abuse, and Women’s Mental Health In general, the study aimed at investigating the interaction between poverty and the severity of abuse in women. The research question being studied in this article is how income intersects with partner violence and impacts […]
America’s Shame: How Can Education Eradicate Poverty The primary focus of the article was global poverty, the flaws in the educational system, as well as the U.S.government’s role in resolving the problem.
Global Poverty and Ways to Overcome It These are some of the strategies, the subsequent application of which would significantly reduce the level of poverty around the world.
Social Work at Acacia Network: Poverty and Inequality Around the 1980s, the number of older adults was significantly increasing in society; the local government of New York established a home for the aged and was named Acacia Network. The supporting staff may bond […]
Poverty and Sex Trafficking: Qualitative Systematic Review The proposed research question is to learn how the phenomenon of poverty is connected to sex trafficking. To investigate the relationship between the phenomenon of poverty and sex trafficking.
Political Economy: Relationship Between Poverty, Inequality, and Nationalism The prevalence of nationalism leads to changes in the education system, as the government tries to justify the superiority of the country by altering the curriculum.
End of Extreme Poverty Importantly, the ability to remain the owners of a substantial amount of accumulated wealth is the primary motivation for such individuals.
Poverty and Inequality in the US Despite the progress of civilization and the establishment of democratic values, in the modern United States, such problems as poverty and inequality persist, which is a significant social gap.
The Problem of Poverty in the United States The problem of increasing poverty is one of the major political issues in the United States, which became especially agile after the appearance of the COVID-19 pandemic due to the difficult economic situation all over […]
Poverty and Unemployment Due to Increased Taxation The government on its side defended the move while trying to justify the new measures’ benefits, a move that would still not benefit the country.
Poverty as a Global Social Problem For example, the research shows that Kibera is the largest slum in the country, and this is where many people move to settle after losing hope of getting employed in towns.
Researching the Problem of Poverty However, the rich people and the rich countries reduce poverty to some extent by providing jobs and markets to the poor, but the help is too little compared to the benefits they get thus accelerating […]
Poverty, Social Class, and Intersectionality I prefer the structural approach to the issue as I believe the created structures are responsible for the existence of diverse types of oppression.
Wealth and Poverty: The Christian Teaching on Wealth and Poverty To illustrate the gap between the world’s richest and the world’s poorest, a recent UN publication reported that the wealth of the three richest persons in the world is greater than the combined wealth of […]
Guns Do Not Kill, Poverty Does It is widely accepted that stricter gun control policies are instrumental in alleviating the problem, as they are supposed to reduce the rate of firearm-related deaths, limiting gun access to individuals at-risk of participating in […]
Poverty’s Effects on Delinquency The economic status of people determines their social class and the manner in which they get their basic needs. Seeing these things and the kind of life rich people lead motivates the poor to commit […]
The Criminalization of Poverty in Canada In this regard, with a special focus on Canada, the objective of this essay is to investigate how public policy has transformed alongside the public perception of social welfare reform.
The Issue of Vicious Circle of Poverty in Brazil The persistence of poverty, regardless of the many shocks that every state receives in the normal course of its survival, raises the feeling that underdevelopment is a condition of equilibrium and that there are pressures […]
Community Health Needs: Poverty Generally, the higher the level of poverty, the worse the diet, and hence the higher the chances of developing diabetes. Consequently, a considerable disparity in the prevalence of diabetes occurs between communities with high levels […]
“Poverty, Race, and the Contexts of Achievement” by Maryah Stella Fram et al. The article “Poverty, race, and the contexts of achievement: examining the educational experience of children in the U.S. Multilevel models were then applied in the analyses of how children varied in their reading scores depending […]
Couple Aims to Fight Poverty, One Village at a Time People are not afraid to risk their own financial savings, their investments, and even life’s safety to help the chosen community and improve the conditions this community has to live under.
Microeconomic Perspective on Poverty Evolution in Pakistan The periodic spike in poverty levels, notwithstanding economic growth, implies incongruous policy functionality in relation to drivers of poverty and the subsequent failure to improve the indicators.
The Impact of Poverty on Children Under the Age of 11 The strengths of the Marxist views on poverty are in the structural approach to the problem. Overall, the Marxist theory offers a radical solution to the problem of child poverty.
Poverty Policy Recommendations Different leaders have considered several policies and initiatives in the past to tackle the problem of poverty and empower more people to lead better lives.
Poverty Reduction and Natural Assets Therefore, the most efficient way to increase the efficiency of agriculture and reduce its environmental impacts is ensuring the overall economic growth in the relevant region.
Corporate Social Responsibility & Poverty Alleviation Researchers state that “preventing and managing the negative impacts of the core business on the poor” are essential indicators of the social responsibility of the company.
Children in Poverty in Kampong Ayer, Brunei Part of the reason is likely malnutrition that results from the eating or consumption patterns of the families and also dependency on the children to help out with the family or house chores.
Health, Poverty, and Social Equity: Indigenous Peoples of Canada Another problem that much of northern Canada’s Indigenous Peoples face is the availability of healthcare services and people’s inability to access medical help.
The Problem of Childhood Poverty Unequal income distribution, adult poverty, government policies that exclude children and premature pregnancy are some of the items from the long list of childhood poverty causes. Before discussing the causes and effects of childhood poverty, […]
Individualistic Concepts and Structural Views on Poverty in American Society The concepts presented in the book Poverty and power help to better understand the content of the article and the reasons for such a different attitude of people to the same problem.
Poor Kids: The Impact of Poverty on Youth Nevertheless, the environment of constant limitations shapes the minds of children, their dreams and the paths they pursue in life, and, most importantly, what they make of themselves.
Poverty: Causes and Effects on the Population and Country Thesis: There are a great number of factors and issues that lead a certain part of the population to live in poverty and the input that such great numbers of people could provide, would be […]
The Internet and Poverty in Society The information that can be found on the web is a very useful resource but at the same time it is important to consider several things with the treatment and examination of the presented information.
Poverty in Africa: Impact of the Economy Growth Rate Thus, a conclusion can be made that economic growth in Africa will result in the social stability of the local population.
Poverty and Disrespect in “Coming of Age in Mississippi” by Anne Moody Life was not fair to a little Anne the chapters about her childhood are alike to a chain of unfortunate events that happened to her and her relatives.
Vietnam’s Economic Growth and Poverty & Inequality A significant part of the population was active in employment, and this means that the numerous income-generating activities improved the economy of this country.
Poverty and Disasters in the United States Focusing on the precaution measures and the drilling techniques that will help survive in case of a natural disaster is one of the most common tools for securing the population.
Intro to Sociology: Poverty It is challenging to pinpoint the actual and not mythological reasons for the presence of poverty in America. The former can be summed up as a “culture of poverty”, which suggests that the poor see […]
The Notion of “Poverty” Is a Key Word of a Modern Society As far as the countries of the Third World are deprived of these possibilities, their development is hampered and the problem of poverty has become a chronic disease of the society.
The Problem of Poverty in Africa The major aim of the study is to identify the causes of poverty and propose best strategies that can help Africans come out of poverty.
Poverty Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Countries: The Role of NGOs The position of research and statistics in undertaking social-counting work is not queried. It is after the research method is used in other tribulations of the charity that gaps emerge between management and research.
“The End of Poverty” by Phillipe Diaz In the film End of Poverty, the filmmaker tries to unravel the mystery behind poverty in the world. The film is arranged in such a way that the author has persuasively argued his case that […]
The Effects of Poverty Within Criminal Justice The approach used in this study is deductive since the reasoning in the study proceeds from the general principle regarding the fact that poverty has a role to play in the administering of fairness in […]
The Poverty Rates in the USA Poverty in the U. Officially the rate of poverty was at14.3%.
Poverty in America: A Paradox Many people especially the young people living in other countries and more so in developed countries wish to immigrate to America instead of working hard to achieve the dream of better opportunities.
Values and Ethics: Poverty in Canada The case study1 has indicated for instance, that the number of people living in poverty in 2003 is at 4. A group of individuals would therefore be granted the mandate to lead the others in […]
War and Poverty Connection in Developing Countries The scholars claim that conflict and war in most nations have been found to exacerbate the rate of poverty in the affected nations.
Poverty in United States. Facts and Causes Schwartz carried out a research which showed that in the United States, about 13-17|% of the individuals live below the federal poverty line at any one single time and poverty is one of the main […]
Cultures and Prejudice: Poverty Factors For instance, if the two cultures had in the past interacted in a negative way, the poor culture directs all the blame to the well up culture.
Poverty and Criminal Behavoiur Relation The level of accuracy that the data collected holds cannot be 100%; there is a level of error that affects the reliability of the data collected.
Urban Relationship Between Poverty and Crime The areas with high poverty level in the US urban areas have the highest cases of crime but this is inadequate to justify that poverty is the cause of crime.
The End of Poverty Possibility He presents the difficulty as in inability of each poor country to get to the base rung of the ranking of economic progress if the rank is achieved; a country can drag itself up towards […]
Poverty, Suburban Public School Violence and Solution However the extension and variation of violence in suburban schools is very different from other schools as a study by the National League of Cities of 700 communities reports that more than 50% of students […]
Social and Economic Policy Program: Globalization, Growth, and Poverty Topic: Sustainable approaches to poverty reduction through smallholder agricultural development in rural South Africa and Kenya The majority of the poor in Africa, and indeed the whole world, live in rural areas.
Is Poverty From Developing Countries Imagined?
How Gender and Race Structure Poverty and Inequality Connected?
Poverty by Anarchism and Marxism Approaches
Colonial Economy of America: Poverty, Slavery and Rich Plantations
Poverty as a Great Social Problem and Its Causes
Environmental Deterioration and Poverty in Kenya
Management Issues: The Poverty Business
Pockets of Poverty Mar the Great Promise of Canada
Poverty. “How the Other Half Lives” by Jacob Riis
The Underclass Poverty and Associated Social Problems
Child Poverty in Toronto, Ontario
Children’s Brain Function Affected by Poverty
Poverty Issue in America Review
Microeconomics. Poverty in America
Poverty and Inequality in Modern World
Poverty and Its Effects on Females
Poverty and Its Effects on Women
Poverty of America: Economic Assumptions
Poverty as a General Problem
Feminization of Poverty – A Grave Social Concern
Global Poverty Dimensions and Alleviating Approaches
Poverty Level in any Country
Theories of Fertility. Economics Aspect and Poverty.
The Cultural Construction of Poverty
Poverty in the US: Causes and Measures
Poverty Rates Issue in Alberta Analysis
“Old Age Poverty” Study by Kwan & Walsh
Phenomena of Poverty Review
Development Economics: Poverty Traps in Africa
Healthcare Development. Poverty in the 1800s
Social Problem of Poverty in the United States
Poverty and Hip-Hop: Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy”
Globalization Issues and Impact on Poverty and Free Trade
Anthropology: Culture of Poverty
Poverty, Stratification and Gender Discrimination
Teen Pregnancy Can Lead to Suicide and Poverty
Poverty Around the World
Poverty in Los Angeles
“Rethinking the Sociological Measurement of Poverty” by Brady
Poverty in the US: Essentials of Sociology
Econometrics: Poverty, Unemployment, Household Income
Religious Quotes on Poverty and Their Interpretations
Poverty and Inequality in “Rich and Poor” by Peter Singer
The Relation Between Poverty and Justice
Canada and the Imposition of Poverty
Poverty and Politics in “The Bottom Billion” by Collier
The Impact of Poverty in African American Communities
“Poverty and Joy: The Franciscan Tradition” by Short
International Financial Institutions’ Poverty Reduction Strategy
Social Study: Mamelodi Residents Living in Poverty
Video Volunteers’ Interventions Against Poverty
Poverty in American Single-Parent Families
Single-Mother Poverty and Policies in the United States
Poverty and Its Aspects in Historical Documents
Economic Development: Prosperity and Poverty
Poverty and Its Relative Definitions
Poverty in America: An Ethical Dilemma
Child Poverty and Academic Achievement Association
Poverty as a Factor of Terrorist Recruitment
Poverty Solution as a Political Issue in Australia
Poverty: An Echo of Capitalism
Poverty, Inequality and Social Policy Understanding
Breastfeeding Impact on Canadian Poverty Gaps
Urban and Suburban Poverty in the United States
Poverty and Child Health in the US and the UK
Poverty Impact on Life Perception
Energy Poverty Elimination in Developing Countries
Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty
Vietnamese Poverty and Productivity Increase
Global Health Governance and Poverty
Poverty Rates Among Whites and Blacks Americans
Culture of Poverty in the “Park Avenue” Documentary
Poverty in the US
Poor Economics and Global Poverty
Poverty as a Cause of the Sudanese Civil War
“Halving Global Poverty” by Besley and Burges
Do Poverty Traps Exist? Assessing the Evidence
Poverty Reasons in Ancient Times and Nowadays
American War on Poverty Throughout US History
Poverty and Challenges in Finding Solutions
Children and Poverty in “Born into Brothels” Documentary
Poverty and Social Welfare in the United States
Poverty in “A Theology of Liberation” by Gutierrez
Poverty Reduction Among American Single Mothers
The Relationship Between Poverty and Education
Divorce Outcomes: Poverty and Instability
African Poverty at the Millennium: Causes and Challenges
Poverty Effect on Children
Poverty and Education: School Funding Reinforces Inequality
Global Poverty and the Endeavors of Addressing It
Global Poverty Reduction: Economic Policy Recommendation
Global Conflict and Poverty Crisis
Poverty in the Novel “Snow” by Orhan Pamuk
The Rise of Poverty in the US
Profit From Organizing Tours to Poverty Areas
Detroit Poverty and “Focus Hope” Organization
Poverty Controversy in the USA
Poverty as the Deprivation of Capabilities
Suburbanisation of Poverty in the USA
The Solution to World Poverty by Peter Singer
The Poverty Across the US Culture
How Racial Segregation Contributes to Minority’s Poverty?
Catholic Dealing With Poverty and Homelessness
Human Capital and Poverty in Scottsdale
Global Poverty Studies and Their Importance
The World Bank and the Poverty of Reform
Challenges of Social Integration: Poverty
Globalization and the Issue of Poverty: Making the World a Better Place
The Economic Effect of Issuing Food Stamps to Those in Poverty
Business and Pollution Inequality in Poor States
What Should You Do? Poverty Issue
Causes of Poverty Traps in an Economy, Its Results and Ways of Avoiding Them
Millennium Development Goals – Energy and Poverty Solutions
Sociological Indicators of Energy Poverty
Energy and Poverty Solutions – Non-Traditional Cookstoves
Energy and Poverty Solutions – World Bank
How do Migration and Urbanization Bring About Urban Poverty in Developing Countries?
Poverty and Domestic Violence
The Rise of Extremist Groups, Disparity and Poverty
Measuring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Australia
Does Poverty Lead to Terrorism?
“Urban and Rural Estimates of Poverty: Recent Advances in Spatial Microsimulation in Australia” by Tanton, R, Harding, A, and McNamara, J
Importance of Foreign Aid in Poverty Reducing
Wordsworth’s Vision of Childhood in His Poems “We Are Seven” and “Alice Fell or Poverty”
Hispanic Childhood Poverty in the United States
How Poverty Affects Children Development?
Why Is Poverty Important in Contemporary Security Studies?
Millennium Development Goals in Kenya, Ivory Coast, Haiti, and Chad
Development Is No Longer the Solution to Poverty
Issues Underlying Global Poverty and Provision of Aid
Films Comparison: “The Fields” by Roland Joffe and “Hotel Rwanda” by Terry George
Poverty Prevalence in the United States
Terrorism, Poverty and Financial Instability
Global Poverty and Education
Critical Analyses of the Climate of Fear Report From Southern Poverty Law Center
How World Vision International Contributes to Poverty Reduction
Global Poverty, Social Poverty and Education
Global Poverty, Social Policy, and Education
Poverty Reduction in Africa, Central America and Asia
The Connection Between Poverty and Mental Health Problems
Does Parental Involvement and Poverty Affect Children’s Education and Their Overall Performance?
African Poverty: To Aid, or Not to Aid
Poverty Fighting in Saudi Arabia and in USA
Technological Development in Trade and Its Impacts on Poverty
Poverty and Development Into the 21st Century
Social Dynamics: The Southern Poverty Law Centre
Property, Urban Poverty and Spatial Marginalization
Rural Poverty in Indonesia
Is Poverty of Poor Countries in Anyway Due to Wealth of the Rich?
Poverty and Gender Violence in Congo
Correlation Between Poverty and Obesity
Fight Poverty, Fight Illiteracy in Mississippi Initiative
Civil War and Poverty: “The Bottom Billion” by Paul Collier
Analytical Research: Poverty in Thailand: Peculiarities and Perspectives
Poverty Indicators in Developing Countries
Poverty, Homelessness and Discrimination in Australia: The Case of the Aboriginal
Social Business Scope in Alleviating Poverty
Africa’s Poverty: The Influence of Western States
Susceptibility of Women and Aboriginal People to Poverty in Canada
MDG Poverty Goals May Be Achieved, but Child Mortality Is Not Improving
We Can Stop Poverty in Ghana Today
Poverty in India and China
Third World Countries and the Barriers Stopping Them to Escape Poverty
Microcredit: A Tool for Poverty Alleviation
Impacts of Global Poverty Resistance
Reducing Poverty: Unilever and Oxfam
Poverty in the United States
The Mothers Who Are Not Single: Striving to Avoid Poverty in Single-Parent Families
Effect of Poverty on Children Cognitive and Learning Ability
Sweatshops and Third World Poverty
War on Poverty: Poverty Problem in US
Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right and the UN Declaration of Human Rights
War on Poverty in US
The Causes of Poverty Concentration in the Modern World
Poverty in Saudi Arabia
Poverty as a Peculiarity of the Economical Development
Capitalism and Poverty
The Problems of Poverty in the Modern World
Poverty Among Women and Aboriginals
On (Not) Getting by in America: Economic Order and Poverty in the U.S.
The Singer Solution to World Poverty
Poverty and Inequality in Jacksonian America
Poverty in America Rural and Urban Difference (Education)
What Is the Relationship Between Race, Poverty and Prison?
Poverty and Its Effects on Childhood Education
Poverty in Russia During the Late Nineteenth Century
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty: Advantages of Microcredit
Social Welfare Policy That Facilitates Reduction of Poverty and Inequality in the US
Immigrant Status and Poverty: How Are They Linked?
Effects of Poverty on Immigrant Children
The Problem of Immigrants Poverty in the US
Why Poverty Rates are Higher Among Single Black Mothers
Poverty and Its Impact on Global Health: Research Methodologies
Poverty Concerns in Today’s Society
Literature Study on the Modern Poverty Concerns
Poverty and Wealth in “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara
Peter Singer on Resolving the World Poverty
Aspects of Global Poverty
Concepts of Prenatal Drug Exposure vs. Poverty on Infants
UN Summit in New York: Ending Global Poverty
Why Has Poverty Increased in Zimbabwe?
Should Private Donations Help Eliminate Child Poverty?
Why Was Poverty Re-Discovered in Britain in the Late 1950s and Early 1960?
Why Does Child Labour Persist With Declining Poverty?
Why Are Child Poverty Rates Higher in Britain Than in Germany?
What Are the Principles and Practices for Measuring Child Poverty in Rich Countries?
Why Did Poverty Drop for the Elderly?
What Is the Relationship Between Income Distribution and Poverty Reduction in the UK?
What Are the Pros and Cons of Poverty in Latin America?
Should Poverty Researchers Worry About Inequality?
What Helps Households With Children in Leaving Poverty?
What Is the Connection Between Poverty and Crime?
Why Have Some Indian States Done Better Than Others at Reducing Rural Poverty?
What Is the Relationship Between Lack of Education and Poverty?
Why Are Child Poverty Rates So Persistently High in Spain?
Trade Liberalisation and Poverty: What Are the Links?
What Are Academic Programs Available for Youth in Poverty?
What Are the Main Factors Contributing to the Rise in Poverty in Canada?
Single-Mother Poverty: How Much Do Educational Differences in Single Motherhood Matter?
What Are the Causes and Effects of Poverty in the United?
Why Are Some Countries Poor?
What Is the Link Between Globalization and Poverty?
What Are the Factors That Influence Poverty Sociology?
What Causes Poverty Within the United States Economy?
What Is the Relationship Between Poverty and Obesity?
Why Were Poverty Rates So High in the 1980s?
With Exhaustible Resources, Can a Developing Country Escape From the Poverty Trap?
Why Does Poverty Persist in Rural Ethiopia?
Who Became Poor, Who Escaped Poverty, and Why?
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2024, March 2). 390 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/poverty-essay-examples/

"390 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 2 Mar. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/poverty-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2024) '390 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 2 March.

IvyPanda . 2024. "390 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/poverty-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "390 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/poverty-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "390 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." March 2, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/poverty-essay-examples/.

Social Problems Essay Ideas
Economic Inequality Questions
Minimum Wage Research Ideas
Criminal Justice Essay Topics
Social Democracy Essay Titles
Corruption Ideas
Criminal Behavior Essay Topics
Social Norms Essay Ideas
Drug Abuse Research Topics
Juvenile Delinquency Essay Titles
Segregation Research Topics
Alcohol Abuse Paper Topics
Challenges Essay Topics
Community Service Questions
Discrimination Essay Titles

5 Essays About Poverty Everyone Should Know

Poverty is one of the driving forces of inequality in the world. Between 1990-2015, much progress was made. The number of people living on less than $1.90 went from 36% to 10%. However, according to the World Bank , the COVID-19 pandemic represents a serious problem that disproportionately impacts the poor. Research released in February of 2020 shows that by 2030, up to ⅔ of the “global extreme poor” will be living in conflict-affected and fragile economies. Poverty will remain a major human rights issue for decades to come. Here are five essays about the issue that everyone should know:

“We need an economic bill of rights” – Martin Luther King Jr.

The Guardian published an abridged version of this essay in 2018, which was originally released in Look magazine just after Dr. King was killed. In this piece, Dr. King explains why an economic bill of rights is necessary. He points out that while mass unemployment within the black community is a “social problem,” it’s a “depression” in the white community. An economic bill of rights would give a job to everyone who wants one and who can work. It would also give an income to those who can’t work. Dr. King affirms his commitment to non-violence. He’s fully aware that tensions are high. He quotes a spiritual, writing “timing is winding up.” Even while the nation progresses, poverty is getting worse.

This essay was reprinted and abridged in The Guardian in an arrangement with The Heirs to the Estate of Martin Luther King. Jr. The most visible representative of the Civil Rights Movement beginning in 1955, Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. His essays and speeches remain timely.

“How Poverty Can Follow Children Into Adulthood” – Priyanka Boghani

This article is from 2017, but it’s more relevant than ever because it was written when 2012 was the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. That’s no longer the case. In 2012, around ¼ American children were in poverty. Five years later, children were still more likely than adults to be poor. This is especially true for children of colour. Consequences of poverty include anxiety, hunger, and homelessness. This essay also looks at the long-term consequences that come from growing up in poverty. A child can develop health problems that affect them in adulthood. Poverty can also harm a child’s brain development. Being aware of how poverty affects children and follows them into adulthood is essential as the world deals with the economic fallout from the pandemic.

Priyanka Boghani is a journalist at PBS Frontline. She focuses on U.S. foreign policy, humanitarian crises, and conflicts in the Middle East. She also assists in managing Frontline’s social accounts.

“5 Reasons COVID-19 Will Impact the Fight to End Extreme Poverty” – Leah Rodriguez

For decades, the UN has attempted to end extreme poverty. In the face of the novel coronavirus outbreak, new challenges threaten the fight against poverty. In this essay, Dr. Natalie Linos, a Harvard social epidemiologist, urges the world to have a “social conversation” about how the disease impacts poverty and inequality. If nothing is done, it’s unlikely that the UN will meet its Global Goals by 2030. Poverty and COVID-19 intersect in five key ways. For one, low-income people are more vulnerable to disease. They also don’t have equal access to healthcare or job stability. This piece provides a clear, concise summary of why this outbreak is especially concerning for the global poor.

Leah Rodriguez’s writing at Global Citizen focuses on women, girls, water, and sanitation. She’s also worked as a web producer and homepage editor for New York Magazine’s The Cut.

“Climate apartheid”: World’s poor to suffer most from disasters” – Al Jazeera and news Agencies

The consequences of climate change are well-known to experts like Philip Alston, the special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. In 2019, he submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council sounding the alarm on how climate change will devastate the poor. While the wealthy will be able to pay their way out of devastation, the poor will not. This will end up creating a “climate apartheid.” Alston states that if climate change isn’t addressed, it will undo the last five decades of progress in poverty education, as well as global health and development .

“Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America” – Barbara Ehrenreich

In this excerpt from her book Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich describes her experience choosing to live undercover as an “unskilled worker” in the US. She wanted to investigate the impact the 1996 welfare reform act had on the working poor. Released in 2001, the events take place between the spring of 1998 and the summer of 2000. Ehrenreich decided to live in a town close to her “real life” and finds a place to live and a job. She has her eyes opened to the challenges and “special costs” of being poor. In 2019, The Guardian ranked the book 13th on their list of 100 best books of the 21st century.

Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of 21 books and an activist. She’s worked as an award-winning columnist and essayist.

12 Ways Poverty Affects Society

15 Great Charities to Donate to in 2024

15 Quotes Exposing Injustice in Society

14 Trusted Charities Helping Civilians in Palestine

The Great Migration: History, Causes and Facts

Social Change 101: Meaning, Examples, Learning Opportunities

Rosa Parks: Biography, Quotes, Impact

Top 20 Issues Women Are Facing Today

Top 20 Issues Children Are Facing Today

15 Root Causes of Climate Change

15 Facts about Rosa Parks

Abolitionist Movement: History, Main Ideas, and Activism Today

About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Meet top uk universities from the comfort of your home, here’s your new year gift, one app for all your, study abroad needs, start your journey, track your progress, grow with the community and so much more.

Verification Code

An OTP has been sent to your registered mobile no. Please verify

Thanks for your comment !

Our team will review it before it's shown to our readers.

School Education /

Essay on Poverty: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

Updated on
Oct 14, 2023

Poverty is a deep-rooted problem that continues to affect a large portion of the world’s population today. It touches on several aspects of human life including but not limited to political, economic, and social elements. Even though there are several methods to escape poverty, still issues arise due to a lack of adequate unity among the country’s citizens. Here are some essays on poverty which will give you insights about this topic.

Table of Contents

1 Essay on Poverty in 100 words
2 Essay on Poverty in 200 words
3.1 Reasons Behind Poverty
3.2 World Poverty Conditions
3.3 Role of NGOs to Eradicate Poverty
3.4 What Can be Done by Us?

Essay on Poverty in 100 words

Poverty is defined as a state of scarcity, and the lack of material possessions to such an extreme extent that people have difficulties in fulfilling their basic needs. Robert McNamara, a former World Bank President, states that extreme poverty is limited by illiteracy, malnutrition, disease, high infant mortality rate, squalid conditions of living, and low life expectancy.

In order to eradicate poverty in a country, strict measures need to be taken on all levels. The political system needs to address this issue with utmost sincerity and strategic implementation in such a way that it improves the lives of people, especially the ones living below the poverty line.

Essay on Poverty in 200 words

Poverty is like a parasite that degrades its host and eventually causes a lot of damage to the host. It is basically the scarcity of basic needs that leads to an extremely degraded life and even low life expectancy. It includes a lack of food, shelter, medication, education, and other basic necessities. Poverty is a more serious circumstance where people are forced to starve. It can be caused by a variety of factors depending upon the country.

Every country that is hit with pandemic diseases, experiences an increase in poverty rates. This is because of the fact that poor people are unable to receive adequate medical care and hence are unable to maintain their health. This renders the people powerless and even puts their liberty in jeopardy. This is because of the fact that poor people can become trapped in a vicious cycle of servitude. The condition of poverty is a distressing one that causes pain, despair, and grief in the lives of the ones it affects.

This is also a negative scenario that prevents a child from attending basic education. It’s the lack of money that prevents people from living sufficiently. Also, it is the cause of more serious social concerns such as slavery, child labour, etc. Hence action is needed on the same with utmost sincerity.

Essay on Poverty in 300 words

Poverty is a multifaceted concept that includes several aspects such as social aspects, political elements, economic aspects, etc. It is basically associated with undermining a variety of essential human attributes such as health, education, etc. Despite the growth and development of the economies of countries, poverty still exists in almost every one of them.

Reasons Behind Poverty

There are several contributing reasons behind poverty in a nation. Some of them are mentioned below:-

Lack of literacy among citizens
Lack of Capital in the country
Large families and a rapidly growing population
Limited employment opportunities

There are even urban areas where the slum population is increasing. These are deprived of many basic amenities such as sanitation, drainage systems, and low-cost water supply, etc.

World Poverty Conditions

According to UNICEF , around 22000 children lose their lives each day due to poverty. There are approximately 1.9 billion children in developing countries in the world and India is also among them. Out of these, approximately 640 million don’t have a proper shelter, 270 million are living without medical facilities, and approximately 400 million don’t have access to safe water. This worldwide situation is growing at a fast pace.

Role of NGOs to Eradicate Poverty

The approaches by NGOs basically include helping the poor by providing various public services such as medical services etc.

They also play a major role in mobilizing the services recommended by the government. They have various approaches and strategies that directly help the poor in various ways.

What Can be Done by Us?

We help in eradicating poverty by increasing employment opportunities.

Ensuring financial services and providing the same is another such measure that can be taken.

Recognizing social entrepreneurs as people of influence, conveying to them the seriousness of this situation, and then eventually making people aware of the same is another thing that can be done.

Essay on Agriculture

Essay on Football

Essay on Isaac Newton

Essay on Knowledge is Power

Writing an essay on poverty in 200 words requires you to describe various aspects of this topic such as what causes poverty, how it affects individuals and society as a whole, etc. The condition of poverty is a distressing one that causes pain, despair, and grief in the lives of the ones it affects.

An essay on poverty may be started as follows:- Poverty is a deep-rooted problem that continues to affect a large portion of the world’s population today. It touches on several aspects of human life including but not limited to political, economic, and social elements. Even though there are several methods to escape poverty, still issues arise due to a lack of adequate unity among the country’s citizens.

Poverty in 100 words: Poverty is defined as a state of scarcity, and the lack of material possessions to such an extreme extent that people have difficulties in fulfilling their basic needs. Robert McNamara, a former World Bank President, states that extreme poverty is limited by illiteracy, malnutrition, disease, high infant mortality rate, squalid conditions of living, and low life expectancy. In order to eradicate poverty in a country, strict measures need to be taken on all levels. The political system needs to address this issue with utmost sincerity and strategic implementation in such a way that it improves the lives of people, especially the ones living below the poverty line.

For more information on such interesting topics, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

Deepansh Gautam

Connect With Us

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today.

Resend OTP in

Need help with?

Study abroad.

UK, Canada, US & More

IELTS, GRE, GMAT & More

Scholarship, Loans & Forex

Country Preference

New Zealand

Which English test are you planning to take?

Which academic test are you planning to take.

Not Sure yet

When are you planning to take the exam?

Already booked my exam slot

Within 2 Months

Want to learn about the test

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

When do you want to start studying abroad.

January 2024

September 2024

What is your budget to study abroad?

How would you describe this article ?

Please rate this article

We would like to hear more.

Have something on your mind?

Make your study abroad dream a reality in January 2022 with

India's Biggest Virtual University Fair

Essex Direct Admission Day

Why attend .

Don't Miss Out

EssayBanyan.com – Collections of Essay for Students of all Class in English

Essay on Poverty

Nations are suffering with various problems and challenges facing the world today, known as global issues. These issues range from environmental degradation, poverty, political instability, and disease, to international security, human rights, and economic inequality. In recent years, the world has seen an increase in the intensity and frequency of global issues, making it more important than ever to understand the causes and effects of these issues. Today we will discuss about poverty that is being a major global issue for various nations. By understanding this in detail, we can work together to create solutions and create a better future for all.

Short and Long Poverty Essay in English

Here, we are presenting long and short essays on Poverty in English for students under word limits of 100 – 150 Words, 200 – 250 words, and 500 – 600 words. This topic is useful for students of classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 in English. These provided essays on Poverty will help you to write effective essays, paragraphs, and speeches on this topic.

Poverty Essay 10 Lines (100 – 150 Words)

1) Poverty is the lack of basic necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, and healthcare.

2) Poverty is a global problem that affects more than 1.3 billion people worldwide.

3) Poverty can lead to a lack of access to education, health care, and employment opportunities.

4) Poverty can lead to malnutrition, disease, and poor quality of life.

5) Poverty can lead to a decrease in life expectancy.

6) Poverty can lead to increased crime rates and social unrest.

7) According to the World Bank, India accounted for 22% of the world’s population living in poverty.

8) The poverty rate in India is significantly higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

9) Literacy is the major factor for poverty.

10) The govt. of India has implemented a range of social welfare programs to reduce poverty.

Short Essay on Poverty (250 – 300 Words)

Introduction

Poverty is an increasing problem in the world today. It is defined as the lack of basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, and access to health care and education. It is a multifaceted issue that affects both individuals and societies.

Causes of Poverty

There are a number of causes of poverty, including conflicts, natural disasters, inadequate access to education, discrimination, and lack of economic opportunities. Conflict is a major cause of poverty, as it destroys the infrastructure and disrupts the economy of a country.

Natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, can also lead to poverty by destroying the infrastructure and resulting in loss of jobs. Inadequate access to education is another major cause of poverty, as it limits people’s ability to gain knowledge and skills that are needed to compete for jobs.

Impact of Poverty

Poverty has a number of negative impacts on individuals and societies. It can lead to poor health outcomes, as people may not have access to proper medical care or nutritious food. It can also lead to social exclusion and marginalization, as people who live in poverty may be seen as second-class citizens. Finally, poverty can lead to underdevelopment, as it limits a country’s ability to invest in infrastructure and other public services.

Poverty is an increasing problem in the world today. It is caused by a number of factors, including conflict, natural disasters, inadequate access to education, discrimination, and lack of economic opportunities. It has a number of negative impacts on individuals and societies, including poor health, social exclusion, and underdevelopment.

Long Essay on Poverty (500 Words)

Poverty is a major issue faced by people all over the world. It is a state of deprivation and lack of access to basic human needs and rights. Poverty exists in every country, but is particularly severe in developing countries. According to the UN, more than 1 billion people around the world live in extreme poverty, with their lives characterized by hunger, malnutrition, and lack of access to basic health services.

Reasons of Increasing Poverty

There are several causes of poverty, including natural disasters, war and conflict, lack of education, inequality, and poor health. Natural disasters, such as floods, droughts, and earthquakes, can cause poverty by destroying crops, homes, and livelihoods

War and conflict can also lead to poverty, as it disrupts economic systems, destroys infrastructure, and causes displacement. Lack of education can limit people’s job prospects and their ability to make a living, leading to poverty. Inequality, which can be seen in unequal distribution of resources, can also lead to poverty. Poor health can lead to poverty, as people are unable to work or are unable to access health services.

Discrimination also contributes to poverty, as certain groups of people may be excluded from certain economic opportunities due to their race, gender, or ethnicity. Finally, lack of economic opportunities for individuals can lead to poverty, as it limits their ability to make a living.

Consequences of Poverty

Poverty has far-reaching consequences, including malnutrition, poor health, and limited access to education. Malnutrition is particularly common in areas of poverty, as people lack access to nutritious food. This can lead to a range of health issues, including anemia, stunting, and even death. Poverty also limits access to education, as people may not be able to afford school fees or supplies. This can create a cycle of poverty, as education is essential for people to be able to find jobs and escape poverty.

How Poverty Can be Controlled?

There are several ways to control poverty, including economic growth, access to education, and increased aid. Economic growth can help to reduce poverty by creating jobs and increasing incomes. Access to education is also important, as it can help people to gain the skills they need to find good jobs and escape poverty. Finally, increased aid from governments and international organizations can help to reduce poverty, as it can provide people with access to food, healthcare, and other services.

In conclusion, poverty is a major issue faced by people around the world. It is caused by a range of factors, including natural disasters, war and conflict, lack of education, inequality, and poor health. It has far-reaching consequences, including malnutrition, poor health, and limited access to education. There are several solutions to poverty, including economic growth, access to education, and increased aid.

I hope the above-provided essay on Poverty will be helpful for everyone to know about the how poverty is a very major global issue and how can we contribute to our nation to resolve this issue.

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions on Poverty

Ans. Burundi is the poorest country in the world.

Ans. United States is the wealthiest country of the world.

Ans. There are many ways to help fight poverty, such as donating to charities, volunteering with organizations that provide services to those in need, and advocating for policies that help reduce poverty.

Ans. Different types of Poverty are Situational poverty, Generational poverty, Absolute poverty, Relative poverty, Urban poverty, Rural poverty.

Essay on digital india, cashless india essay, essay on child is father of the man, essay on causes, effects and prevention of corona virus, essay on dr. sarvepalli radhakrishnan, durga puja essay, essay on summer vacation, essay on my plans for summer vacation, essay on holiday.

Poverty - List of Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

Poverty, a state of deprivation of basic human needs and economic opportunities, is a pervasive issue across the globe. Essays could explore the systemic causes of poverty, its impact on individuals and communities, and the various strategies employed to alleviate poverty. Additionally, discussions might delve into the role of international aid, the impact of globalization, and the ethical responsibilities of affluent individuals and nations toward poverty reduction. A substantial compilation of free essay instances related to Poverty you can find at PapersOwl Website. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Poverty and Drug Abuse Addiction

One popular stereotype associated with drug use is that it is rampant among the poor. However, this is not entirely true since insufficient money linked with the poor cannot probably sustain drug use. The link between the two factors is multifaceted, and the connectedness of poverty is complex. Poverty entails unstable family and interpersonal associations, low-skilled jobs and low status, high arrest degrees, illegitimacy, school dropping out, deprived physical health, high mental conditions, and high mortality rates. Such factors resemble […]

Changing the Face of Poverty Summary

In Changing the Face of Poverty the author, Diana George, begins with her annual food drive at St. Vincent de Paul, and every day she receives bills and catalogs with appeals like the Navajo Health Foundation, little Brothers, and many others. In those was Habitat for Humanity. As a member of this club, I know the duties and responsibility towards this organization. George states that Habitat for Humanity is not as helpful as it seems. She says that the organization […]

Racism in Criminal Justice System

Scott Woods once said, The problem is that white people see racism as conscious hate, when racism is bigger than that. Racism is a complex system of social and political levers and pulleys set up generations ago to continue working on the behalf of whites at other people's expense, whether whites know/like it or not. Racism is an insidious cultural disease. It is so insidious that it doesn't care if you are a white person who likes black people; it's […]

We will write an essay sample crafted to your needs.

Impact of Poverty on the Society

This is a very challenging question because nearly every ""pressing problem or social issue"" has underlying factors and historical influences. So I will try to explain my understanding of these topics. There are two important lenses from which to consider this issue; first, from the individual circumstance and second, from specific community conditions. The inability of individuals to earn enough money to afford to meet their basic needs and maintain a healthy lifestyle is, in my opinion, the most pressing […]

Poverty in the United States

Poverty is a major issue in our world today, it is when people are not able to afford a minimum standard of living to survive. Poverty is the removal of financial stability to afford necessities. Bill Fay, veteran journalist defined poverty as a pervasive human condition of being unable to obtain or provide a standard level of food, water, and shelter. In 2015, a study was done and reported that 60% of people will experience at least 1 year of […]

Unemployment a Major Cause of Homelessness

Homelessness or known as extreme poverty can be interpreted as a circumstance when people have no place to stay with the result that they end up live in the street, under the bridge even at the side of the river. There are 3.5 million Americans are homeless each year. Of these, more than 1 million are children and on any given night, more than 300,000 children are homeless. They who do not have an occupation are the one that is […]

Breaking the Poverty Trap

One of the reasons the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, is because of the lack of not knowing and ignorance hindering half the world, allowing the cycle of poverty to continue. Poverty trap is as a spiraling mechanism, that forces people to remain poor binding many to no hope of escaping. The poverty trap has been an ongoing cycle within generations even those close to me, that has tremendously taken a negative toll on society and my […]

Childhood Poverty

Abstract Poverty is viewed throughout the world as a large social problem that continues to advance with time. Since 1960, poverty has continued to flourish into a problem that has affected a large majority of the population, including our children. Childhood poverty affects the psychological and biological development, as well as three main levels of social systems: micro, mezzo and macro. Even though there has been active research on poverty, generational poverty and childhood poverty, no active changes have been […]

Homelessness in the United States

Homelessness is a social problem that has long plagued the United States and surrounding Countries for centuries. It is an economic and social problem that has affected people from all walks of life, including children, families, veterans, and the elderly. Kilgore (2018). States homelessness is believed to have affected an estimated amount of 2.5-3.5 million people each year in the United States alone. Recent evidence suggests economic conditions have increased the number of people affected by homelessness in the United […]

Poverty in Developing Countries

Introduction A. (Opening Device) How many of you ever had to think or worry about your next meal? Most of us, we don't have to think about that, we don't think about where we having that meal. But in developing countries people have to think about everything they do in daily life, The goal for the day is to have meal with family and have a shelter, or to live in a house to hope for better lifestyle. To make […]

Closing the Education Gap by Attacking Poverty Among Children

Looking around the campus of an Ivy League schools, one wonders how students from such diverse backgrounds ultimately wound up at the same place. From having a mother who works in admissions, I grew up hearing that no matter where you came from, your socioeconomic status, and even sometimes your grades, all kids have the potential to attend a prestigious university. However, I find that hard to believe. With a combination of taking this class on homelessness this semester, growing […]

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Introduction The three main objectives of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed in October 2010, include the following: reforming the private insurance market, mainly for individuals and small group purchasers; expanding Medicaid to the working poor, whose maximum income is around 33 percent of the federal poverty level; and altering the way medical decisions are made in the country (Silvers, 2013). These three objectives are primarily determined by private choices rather than government regulation, with the expectation that […]

Financial Education and Poverty

The most pressing social issue that has the most impact on the ability of people to be healthy and economically self-sufficient is financial education. For an individual or family unit to become economically viable, they must be educated in the proper uses of their income. An individual can be gainfully employed and still be in danger of becoming homeless. This occurs when this individual or familial unit exceeds their income through purchases that are not needed. As we approach the […]

The Poverty Among Us

In our current society, poverty is an issue that plagues third world nations. All countries are interwoven with one another because of everyone needing each other for certain resources. When one country is in need, it interrupts a process that all countries have with one another. Poverty is an issue that everyone should pay attention to even if it does not occur where we live or does not affect us directly as much as it does other nations. Not only […]

Effect of Rural-Urban Migation on the Poverty Status of Farming Households in Ogbomoso

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the study Needless to say, poverty is a global problem; however, the menace of poverty is most devastating in the developing countries of the world. Food production has hardly kept pace with population size, and the quantity, as well as quality of health, has also massively deteriorated. According to the World Bank Development Report (2013), about 10.7 percent of the world's population lived below poverty line (US $1.90 a day). Poverty is one of […]

What is Poverty?

Poverty is a pervasive human condition of being unable to obtain or provide a standard level of food, water, and/or shelter (Fay, n.d.). The United States has the highest rate of poverty among wealthy countries. The official poverty line is based on what the federal government considers to be the minimum amount of money required for living at a subsistence level (Kendell, 2018). Sociologists define poverty in two ways: absolute and relative. Absolute poverty is when the household income is […]

Increasing Federal Minimum Wage

The magnitude of the impacts of federal minimum payments has been a typical topic of discussion for years. Economic policymakers and academic researchers base minimum wage discussions in the context of poverty and increasing the wages. However, critics argue that there are many adverse effects on small businesses and the general economy of the country. A rise in the nation payments will have impacts on the economy of the American states in which the increase in minimum wage law is […]

How Poverty Correlates with Non English Speaking American Families

How does poverty affect the people in the United states today? Poverty is currently affecting 16.3 percent of women, 13.8 of men, and 21 percent of all children in America. The highest poverty rate by race is found among Native Americans, which is 27.6 percent. African americans have 26.2 percent poverty and Hispanics having 23.4 percent. How do these families provide for their children and help them succeed if they can barely even pay the bills? Families all over the […]

Poverty and Crime

Poverty isn't the 'mother of crime.' However it is one noteworthy benefactor. Crime exists, since individuals need something they don't have, and are not willing to comply with the law(s) on the books to get it. What poverty does is, it decreases the things needy individuals have accessible to them, along these lines offering undeniably more things for needy individuals to want—and substantially more inspiration to them to carry out a crime to get it. Along these lines, more needy […]

Poverty in America

Poverty has been a ongoing, social issue that throughout the years has changed its meaning. Poverty is defined lacking basic necessities such as water, food, shelter, wealth, etc… About fifty years ago, war was declared on poverty by President Johnson hoping that it would end, but fast forward today, it is one of the biggest social issues America is dealing with. We don’t really know why poverty is still occurring, because the reasons seem to always be changing. The reasons […]

Poverty Life in the Industrial Age

Tenement Housing Tenement housing was cheap, unsanitary, and extremely crowded. They were placed by factories, so the air and water became very polluted and unsafe because of all the fumes and such from the factory. Most didn’t have indoor plumbing or proper ventilation which caused tons of health issues. At night the only light they had was from the streetlights so of course the only level of the housing that had light was the level that was level with the […]

Economic Inequality and Governmental Responsibility

Ever since the emergence of civilization several hundreds of years ago, social inequality has been a prevalent aspect of many societies across the world. This social structure developed as a result of several factors, amongst them political and economic status in the society. During the early stages of civilization, social and political status was closely related whereby the few powerful political leaders tended to be wealthier than the lesser politically influential majority. Although this dynamic is still prevalent in developing […]

Poverty and Homelessness in America

Poverty and Homelessness in America is a daunting subject which everyone recognizes but do not pay attention to. A homeless person is stereotypically thought to be a person who sleeps at the roadside, begging for money and influenced by drug with dirty ragged clothes and a person who is deprived of basic facilities in his or her life such as; education, electricity, proper clothes, shelter, water with a scarcity of balanced diet is termed as person living under the line […]

Poverty in Haiti: is there a Solution?

Abstract Haiti is a Latin American country that is often ignored. People do not hear much about it, except if a natural disaster such as the earthquake in 2010 happens. It was once the richest colony of the Caribbean and nowadays is known as the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere. Haiti has been facing a cycle of poverty since it became independent. Haiti’s location and deforestation have contributed to make the situation worse. More than half of the population […]

Causes of Poverty

Some causes of poverty in the United States are: unemployment, inflation, poor management of resources, government policies, debt, corruption, extreme weather, lack of control in local food, lack of access to education, mental illness ( lack of proper psychiatric care), diseases, automation, and overpopulation. Poverty is a pervasive human condition of being unable to obtain or provide a standard level of food, water and/or shelter. It exists in every country in varying degrees, and it is unlikely to disappear anytime […]

Affordable Housing Takes on Poverty

Without affordable housing there will be a continuous increase in minorities which also leads to a higher poverty rate. Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. Affordable housing helps decrease poverty in many ways than one. Affordable housing fulfills a human’s basic need for shelter as well as provides privacy for families. Those who receive affordable housing assistance and have children, benefit from better nutrition. Affordable housing would reduce poverty and should be available to those who are in […]

The Impacts of Neoliberalism in the Transition to Democracy in Chile

Compared to other developing countries in Latin America, Chile's political and economic development is distinctive. The country is one of the democratic exceptions, owing to its relatively poor and small population at the time of Spanish colonial rule. The indigenous population is also rather small, and the country has a high degree of ethnic and cultural homogeneity (Hillman and D’Agostino 2011, 67-107). However, today's regime wasn't always democratic. Between 1973 and 1990, Chile was under an authoritarian regime led by […]

Living in Poverty and being Rich

Poverty is such a simple word, but it is so complicated at the same time. The vast majority of individuals will not fully comprehend the real implication of poverty just by reading its literal meaning from the dictionary, but by learning from their surroundings and experiencing hardship itself. Defining poverty can be being poor financially but is also defined as a comfortable way of living as well as spiritually too. What does it mean actually to be poor? Most […]

Poverty and Obesity

It is a known fact that the individual exert influences on the environment and vice versa. However, no man is an Island and as such, these influences reflect through various levels of social and interpersonal relationships. The social environment of the individual include interaction with peers, friend and family members, through such mechanism as role modeling, social support and social norms (Mary, Karen, Ramona, Karen .Annu. Rev. Public Health 2008.Creating Healthy food and Eating Environments, para 2). The physical environment […]

A Problem Child Poverty and Effects on Education

“The impact of poverty on a child’s academic achievement is significant and starts early,” – Jonah Edelman, co-founder and chief executive officer of Stand for Children (Taylor, 2017). According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2015, around 20 percent of children in the U.S. lived in poverty (Taylor, 2017). Rather than focusing all our time, attention, and resources on rewriting standards and adding higher stakes standardized tests, are we missing a larger looming issue? Studies have shown that student poverty […]

Poverty: A Very Short Introduction

Author webpage

Cite Icon Cite
Permissions Icon Permissions

Millions of people worldwide live in poverty. Why is that? What has been done about it in the past? And what is being done about it now? Poverty: A Very Short Introduction explores how the answers to these questions lie in the social, political, economic, educational, and technological processes that impact all of us throughout our lives—from the circumstances of birth and gender to access to clean water and whether it is wartime or peacetime. The degree of vulnerability is all that differentiates us. This VSI looks at the history of poverty, the practical and analytical efforts made to eradicate it, and the prospects for further poverty alleviation in the future.

Signed in as

Institutional accounts.

Google Scholar Indexing
GoogleCrawler [DO NOT DELETE]

Personal account

Sign in with email/username & password
Get email alerts
Save searches
Purchase content
Activate your purchase/trial code

Institutional access

Sign in with a library card Sign in with username/password Recommend to your librarian
Institutional account management
Get help with access

Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:

IP based access

Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.

Sign in through your institution

Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institutionâ€™s website and Oxford Academic.

Click Sign in through your institution.
Select your institution from the list provided, which will take you to your institution's website to sign in.
When on the institution site, please use the credentials provided by your institution. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.
Following successful sign in, you will be returned to Oxford Academic.

If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institutionâ€™s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.

Sign in with a library card

Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.

Society Members

Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:

Sign in through society site

Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see â€˜Sign in through society siteâ€™ in the sign in pane within a journal:

Click Sign in through society site.
When on the society site, please use the credentials provided by that society. Do not use an Oxford Academic personal account.

If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.

Sign in using a personal account

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.

A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.

Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.

Viewing your signed in accounts

Click the account icon in the top right to:

View your signed in personal account and access account management features.
View the institutional accounts that are providing access.

Signed in but can't access content

Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.

For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.

Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.

External resource

In the OUP print catalogue
About Oxford Academic
Publish journals with us
University press partners
What we publish
New features
Open access
Rights and permissions
Accessibility
Advertising
Media enquiries
Oxford University Press
Oxford Languages
University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
Cookie settings
Cookie policy
Privacy policy
Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Poverty Essay

Poverty in India Essay

500+ words poverty in india essay.

Poverty is defined as a condition in which a person or family lacks the financial resources to afford a basic, minimum standard of living. Poor people don’t have adequate income; they can’t afford housing, health facilities and education which are essential for basic survival. So, poverty can be understood simply as a lack of money, or more broadly, barriers to everyday human life. With the help of this poverty essay, students will understand the meaning of poverty, the major causes of poverty and the efforts taken to eliminate poverty in India. So, students must go through this poverty in India essay in depth to get ideas on how to write effective essays and score high marks in exams.

What Causes Poverty?

There are various factors that are responsible for poverty. The major causes are unemployment, illiteracy, increasing population, and lack of proper education and training. As people are not able to find work for themselves, they are not able to earn their livelihood. Due to this, they lack access to basic education, health care, drinking water and sanitation. They are unable to feed their families and children. The other causes of poverty include war, natural disasters, political instability, etc. For example, World War II impacted many countries and they had to suffer from poverty for a long time. It took a lot of effort for such countries to recover their normal state. Similarly, natural disasters affect some areas so badly that poverty and hunger arise.

How is Poverty Measured in India?

The minimum expenditure (or income) required to purchase a basket of goods and services necessary to satisfy basic human needs is called the Poverty Line. Poverty can be measured in terms of the number of people living below this line. It is measured by the State Governments and information is provided by Below Poverty Line (BPL) censuses. Different countries use different measures for measuring poverty but the basic concept remains the same. The definition of the poverty line remains the same, i.e, consumption required for maintaining the minimum standard of living in a country.

Efforts to Eliminate Poverty

Earning income is the first step towards poverty eradication. Poverty can be eliminated by empowering people, and by giving them a good education that will prepare them to have a better career and future. With the help of education, people can get good jobs which allow them to earn a good living. In this way, they will be able to provide their children with a better life. People should be given easy access to transportation, information, communication, technologies, and other public facilities and services to help remove poverty.

The government has also taken several steps to eradicate poverty in India. It has launched various programmes and schemes such as the Five Years Programme, Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana etc. These programmes help to generate wage employment for the poor, unskilled people living in rural areas. The government also has social security programmes to help a few specific groups such as poor women, elder people, and widows. Apart from these government initiatives, citizens of India have to take an active part in eliminating poverty because it can’t be achieved by just a few people. It needs the support of everyone.

Did you find “Essay on Poverty” useful for improving your writing skills? Do let us know your views in the comments section. Keep learning, and don’t forget to download the BYJU’S App for more interesting study videos.

Frequently asked Questions on Poverty in India Essay

How can poverty in india be abolished completely.

Abolishing poverty in India completely can be challenging. Steps should be taken to ensure equality in education so that everyone gets equal opportunities to find better livelihoods. Proper sanitation and water facility 3. Economic security and development

When was the first plan implemented for Poverty abolition?

The fifth five-year plan was first implemented in the year 1974-79 and since then the government has taken several steps and made many reservations to take this plan forward.

What is the relation between Poverty abolition and economic development?

Poverty abolition and economic development go hand in hand with each other and they are interlinked to each other. Eradication of poverty automatically improves the overall economic situation of a country.

Register with BYJU'S & Download Free PDFs

Counselling

A color photograph of a mother and son in a car. Both are holding dogs on their laps and a third dog lays his head over the passenger seat.

Why Poverty Persists in America

A Pulitzer Prize-winning sociologist offers a new explanation for an intractable problem.

A mother and son living in a Walmart parking lot in North Dakota in 2012. Credit... Eugene Richards

Supported by

Share full article

By Matthew Desmond

Published March 9, 2023 Updated April 3, 2023

In the past 50 years, scientists have mapped the entire human genome and eradicated smallpox. Here in the United States, infant-mortality rates and deaths from heart disease have fallen by roughly 70 percent, and the average American has gained almost a decade of life. Climate change was recognized as an existential threat. The internet was invented.

On the problem of poverty, though, there has been no real improvement — just a long stasis. As estimated by the federal government’s poverty line, 12.6 percent of the U.S. population was poor in 1970; two decades later, it was 13.5 percent; in 2010, it was 15.1 percent; and in 2019, it was 10.5 percent. To graph the share of Americans living in poverty over the past half-century amounts to drawing a line that resembles gently rolling hills. The line curves slightly up, then slightly down, then back up again over the years, staying steady through Democratic and Republican administrations, rising in recessions and falling in boom years.

What accounts for this lack of progress? It cannot be chalked up to how the poor are counted: Different measures spit out the same embarrassing result. When the government began reporting the Supplemental Poverty Measure in 2011, designed to overcome many of the flaws of the Official Poverty Measure, including not accounting for regional differences in costs of living and government benefits, the United States officially gained three million more poor people. Possible reductions in poverty from counting aid like food stamps and tax benefits were more than offset by recognizing how low-income people were burdened by rising housing and health care costs.

The American poor have access to cheap, mass-produced goods, as every American does. But that doesn’t mean they can access what matters most.

Any fair assessment of poverty must confront the breathtaking march of material progress. But the fact that standards of living have risen across the board doesn’t mean that poverty itself has fallen. Forty years ago, only the rich could afford cellphones. But cellphones have become more affordable over the past few decades, and now most Americans have one, including many poor people. This has led observers like Ron Haskins and Isabel Sawhill, senior fellows at the Brookings Institution, to assert that “access to certain consumer goods,” like TVs, microwave ovens and cellphones, shows that “the poor are not quite so poor after all.”

No, it doesn’t. You can’t eat a cellphone. A cellphone doesn’t grant you stable housing, affordable medical and dental care or adequate child care. In fact, as things like cellphones have become cheaper, the cost of the most necessary of life’s necessities, like health care and rent, has increased. From 2000 to 2022 in the average American city, the cost of fuel and utilities increased by 115 percent. The American poor, living as they do in the center of global capitalism, have access to cheap, mass-produced goods, as every American does. But that doesn’t mean they can access what matters most. As Michael Harrington put it 60 years ago: “It is much easier in the United States to be decently dressed than it is to be decently housed, fed or doctored.”

Why, then, when it comes to poverty reduction, have we had 50 years of nothing? When I first started looking into this depressing state of affairs, I assumed America’s efforts to reduce poverty had stalled because we stopped trying to solve the problem. I bought into the idea, popular among progressives, that the election of President Ronald Reagan (as well as that of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom) marked the ascendancy of market fundamentalism, or “neoliberalism,” a time when governments cut aid to the poor, lowered taxes and slashed regulations. If American poverty persisted, I thought, it was because we had reduced our spending on the poor. But I was wrong.

A black-and-white photograph of a family in a car. The mother is laying down in the front looking up despondently. Two children are crouched in the back. A boy looks out from under pieces of furniture looking directly into the camera from the shadows.

Reagan expanded corporate power, deeply cut taxes on the rich and rolled back spending on some antipoverty initiatives, especially in housing. But he was unable to make large-scale, long-term cuts to many of the programs that make up the American welfare state. Throughout Reagan’s eight years as president, antipoverty spending grew, and it continued to grow after he left office. Spending on the nation’s 13 largest means-tested programs — aid reserved for Americans who fall below a certain income level — went from $1,015 a person the year Reagan was elected president to $3,419 a person one year into Donald Trump’s administration, a 237 percent increase.

Most of this increase was due to health care spending, and Medicaid in particular. But even if we exclude Medicaid from the calculation, we find that federal investments in means-tested programs increased by 130 percent from 1980 to 2018, from $630 to $1,448 per person.

“Neoliberalism” is now part of the left’s lexicon, but I looked in vain to find it in the plain print of federal budgets, at least as far as aid to the poor was concerned. There is no evidence that the United States has become stingier over time. The opposite is true.

This makes the country’s stalled progress on poverty even more baffling. Decade after decade, the poverty rate has remained flat even as federal relief has surged.

If we have more than doubled government spending on poverty and achieved so little, one reason is that the American welfare state is a leaky bucket. Take welfare, for example: When it was administered through the Aid to Families With Dependent Children program, almost all of its funds were used to provide single-parent families with cash assistance. But when President Bill Clinton reformed welfare in 1996, replacing the old model with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), he transformed the program into a block grant that gives states considerable leeway in deciding how to distribute the money. As a result, states have come up with rather creative ways to spend TANF dollars. Arizona has used welfare money to pay for abstinence-only sex education. Pennsylvania diverted TANF funds to anti-abortion crisis-pregnancy centers. Maine used the money to support a Christian summer camp. Nationwide, for every dollar budgeted for TANF in 2020, poor families directly received just 22 cents.

We’ve approached the poverty question by pointing to poor people themselves, when we should have been focusing on exploitation.

A fair amount of government aid earmarked for the poor never reaches them. But this does not fully solve the puzzle of why poverty has been so stubbornly persistent, because many of the country’s largest social-welfare programs distribute funds directly to people. Roughly 85 percent of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program budget is dedicated to funding food stamps themselves, and almost 93 percent of Medicaid dollars flow directly to beneficiaries.

There are, it would seem, deeper structural forces at play, ones that have to do with the way the American poor are routinely taken advantage of. The primary reason for our stalled progress on poverty reduction has to do with the fact that we have not confronted the unrelenting exploitation of the poor in the labor, housing and financial markets.

As a theory of poverty, “exploitation” elicits a muddled response, causing us to think of course and but, no in the same instant. The word carries a moral charge, but social scientists have a fairly coolheaded way to measure exploitation: When we are underpaid relative to the value of what we produce, we experience labor exploitation; when we are overcharged relative to the value of something we purchase, we experience consumer exploitation. For example, if a family paid $1,000 a month to rent an apartment with a market value of $20,000, that family would experience a higher level of renter exploitation than a family who paid the same amount for an apartment with a market valuation of $100,000. When we don’t own property or can’t access credit, we become dependent on people who do and can, which in turn invites exploitation, because a bad deal for you is a good deal for me.

Our vulnerability to exploitation grows as our liberty shrinks. Because labor laws often fail to protect undocumented workers in practice, more than a third are paid below minimum wage, and nearly 85 percent are not paid overtime. Many of us who are U.S. citizens, or who crossed borders through official checkpoints, would not work for these wages. We don’t have to. If they migrate here as adults, those undocumented workers choose the terms of their arrangement. But just because desperate people accept and even seek out exploitative conditions doesn’t make those conditions any less exploitative. Sometimes exploitation is simply the best bad option.

Consider how many employers now get one over on American workers. The United States offers some of the lowest wages in the industrialized world. A larger share of workers in the United States make “low pay” — earning less than two-thirds of median wages — than in any other country belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the group, nearly 23 percent of American workers labor in low-paying jobs, compared with roughly 17 percent in Britain, 11 percent in Japan and 5 percent in Italy. Poverty wages have swollen the ranks of the American working poor, most of whom are 35 or older.

One popular theory for the loss of good jobs is deindustrialization, which caused the shuttering of factories and the hollowing out of communities that had sprung up around them. Such a passive word, “deindustrialization” — leaving the impression that it just happened somehow, as if the country got deindustrialization the way a forest gets infested by bark beetles. But economic forces framed as inexorable, like deindustrialization and the acceleration of global trade, are often helped along by policy decisions like the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, which made it easier for companies to move their factories to Mexico and contributed to the loss of hundreds of thousands of American jobs. The world has changed, but it has changed for other economies as well. Yet Belgium and Canada and many other countries haven’t experienced the kind of wage stagnation and surge in income inequality that the United States has.

Those countries managed to keep their unions. We didn’t. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, nearly a third of all U.S. workers carried union cards. These were the days of the United Automobile Workers, led by Walter Reuther, once savagely beaten by Ford’s brass-knuckle boys, and of the mighty American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations that together represented around 15 million workers, more than the population of California at the time.

In their heyday, unions put up a fight. In 1970 alone, 2.4 million union members participated in work stoppages, wildcat strikes and tense standoffs with company heads. The labor movement fought for better pay and safer working conditions and supported antipoverty policies. Their efforts paid off for both unionized and nonunionized workers, as companies like Eastman Kodak were compelled to provide generous compensation and benefits to their workers to prevent them from organizing. By one estimate, the wages of nonunionized men without a college degree would be 8 percent higher today if union strength remained what it was in the late 1970s, a time when worker pay climbed, chief-executive compensation was reined in and the country experienced the most economically equitable period in modern history.

It is important to note that Old Labor was often a white man’s refuge. In the 1930s, many unions outwardly discriminated against Black workers or segregated them into Jim Crow local chapters. In the 1960s, unions like the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America enforced segregation within their ranks. Unions harmed themselves through their self-defeating racism and were further weakened by a changing economy. But organized labor was also attacked by political adversaries. As unions flagged, business interests sensed an opportunity. Corporate lobbyists made deep inroads in both political parties, beginning a public-relations campaign that pressured policymakers to roll back worker protections.

A national litmus test arrived in 1981, when 13,000 unionized air traffic controllers left their posts after contract negotiations with the Federal Aviation Administration broke down. When the workers refused to return, Reagan fired all of them. The public’s response was muted, and corporate America learned that it could crush unions with minimal blowback. And so it went, in one industry after another.

Today almost all private-sector employees (94 percent) are without a union, though roughly half of nonunion workers say they would organize if given the chance. They rarely are. Employers have at their disposal an arsenal of tactics designed to prevent collective bargaining, from hiring union-busting firms to telling employees that they could lose their jobs if they vote yes. Those strategies are legal, but companies also make illegal moves to block unions, like disciplining workers for trying to organize or threatening to close facilities. In 2016 and 2017, the National Labor Relations Board charged 42 percent of employers with violating federal law during union campaigns. In nearly a third of cases, this involved illegally firing workers for organizing.

Corporate lobbyists told us that organized labor was a drag on the economy — that once the companies had cleared out all these fusty, lumbering unions, the economy would rev up, raising everyone’s fortunes. But that didn’t come to pass. The negative effects of unions have been wildly overstated, and there is now evidence that unions play a role in increasing company productivity, for example by reducing turnover. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics measures productivity as how efficiently companies turn inputs (like materials and labor) into outputs (like goods and services). Historically, productivity, wages and profits rise and fall in lock step. But the American economy is less productive today than it was in the post-World War II period, when unions were at peak strength. The economies of other rich countries have slowed as well, including those with more highly unionized work forces, but it is clear that diluting labor power in America did not unleash economic growth or deliver prosperity to more people. “We were promised economic dynamism in exchange for inequality,” Eric Posner and Glen Weyl write in their book “Radical Markets.” “We got the inequality, but dynamism is actually declining.”

As workers lost power, their jobs got worse. For several decades after World War II, ordinary workers’ inflation-adjusted wages (known as “real wages”) increased by 2 percent each year. But since 1979, real wages have grown by only 0.3 percent a year. Astonishingly, workers with a high school diploma made 2.7 percent less in 2017 than they would have in 1979, adjusting for inflation. Workers without a diploma made nearly 10 percent less.

Lousy, underpaid work is not an indispensable, if regrettable, byproduct of capitalism, as some business defenders claim today. (This notion would have scandalized capitalism’s earliest defenders. John Stuart Mill, arch advocate of free people and free markets, once said that if widespread scarcity was a hallmark of capitalism, he would become a communist.) But capitalism is inherently about owners trying to give as little, and workers trying to get as much, as possible. With unions largely out of the picture, corporations have chipped away at the conventional midcentury work arrangement, which involved steady employment, opportunities for advancement and raises and decent pay with some benefits.

As the sociologist Gerald Davis has put it: Our grandparents had careers. Our parents had jobs. We complete tasks. Or at least that has been the story of the American working class and working poor.

Poor Americans aren’t just exploited in the labor market. They face consumer exploitation in the housing and financial markets as well.

There is a long history of slum exploitation in America. Money made slums because slums made money. Rent has more than doubled over the past two decades, rising much faster than renters’ incomes. Median rent rose from $483 in 2000 to $1,216 in 2021. Why have rents shot up so fast? Experts tend to offer the same rote answers to this question. There’s not enough housing supply, they say, and too much demand. Landlords must charge more just to earn a decent rate of return. Must they? How do we know?

We need more housing; no one can deny that. But rents have jumped even in cities with plenty of apartments to go around. At the end of 2021, almost 19 percent of rental units in Birmingham, Ala., sat vacant, as did 12 percent of those in Syracuse, N.Y. Yet rent in those areas increased by roughly 14 percent and 8 percent, respectively, over the previous two years. National data also show that rental revenues have far outpaced property owners’ expenses in recent years, especially for multifamily properties in poor neighborhoods. Rising rents are not simply a reflection of rising operating costs. There’s another dynamic at work, one that has to do with the fact that poor people — and particularly poor Black families — don’t have much choice when it comes to where they can live. Because of that, landlords can overcharge them, and they do.

A study I published with Nathan Wilmers found that after accounting for all costs, landlords operating in poor neighborhoods typically take in profits that are double those of landlords operating in affluent communities. If down-market landlords make more, it’s because their regular expenses (especially their mortgages and property-tax bills) are considerably lower than those in upscale neighborhoods. But in many cities with average or below-average housing costs — think Buffalo, not Boston — rents in the poorest neighborhoods are not drastically lower than rents in the middle-class sections of town. From 2015 to 2019, median monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Indianapolis metropolitan area was $991; it was $816 in neighborhoods with poverty rates above 40 percent, just around 17 percent less. Rents are lower in extremely poor neighborhoods, but not by as much as you would think.

Yet where else can poor families live? They are shut out of homeownership because banks are disinclined to issue small-dollar mortgages, and they are also shut out of public housing, which now has waiting lists that stretch on for years and even decades. Struggling families looking for a safe, affordable place to live in America usually have but one choice: to rent from private landlords and fork over at least half their income to rent and utilities. If millions of poor renters accept this state of affairs, it’s not because they can’t afford better alternatives; it’s because they often aren’t offered any.

You can read injunctions against usury in the Vedic texts of ancient India, in the sutras of Buddhism and in the Torah. Aristotle and Aquinas both rebuked it. Dante sent moneylenders to the seventh circle of hell. None of these efforts did much to stem the practice, but they do reveal that the unprincipled act of trapping the poor in a cycle of debt has existed at least as long as the written word. It might be the oldest form of exploitation after slavery. Many writers have depicted America’s poor as unseen, shadowed and forgotten people: as “other” or “invisible.” But markets have never failed to notice the poor, and this has been particularly true of the market for money itself.

The deregulation of the banking system in the 1980s heightened competition among banks. Many responded by raising fees and requiring customers to carry minimum balances. In 1977, over a third of banks offered accounts with no service charge. By the early 1990s, only 5 percent did. Big banks grew bigger as community banks shuttered, and in 2021, the largest banks in America charged customers almost $11 billion in overdraft fees. Previous research showed that just 9 percent of account holders paid 84 percent of these fees. Who were the unlucky 9 percent? Customers who carried an average balance of less than $350. The poor were made to pay for their poverty.

In 2021, the average fee for overdrawing your account was $33.58. Because banks often issue multiple charges a day, it’s not uncommon to overdraw your account by $20 and end up paying $200 for it. Banks could (and do) deny accounts to people who have a history of overextending their money, but those customers also provide a steady revenue stream for some of the most powerful financial institutions in the world.

Every year: almost $11 billion in overdraft fees, $1.6 billion in check-cashing fees and up to $8.2 billion in payday-loan fees.

According to the F.D.I.C., one in 19 U.S. households had no bank account in 2019, amounting to more than seven million families. Compared with white families, Black and Hispanic families were nearly five times as likely to lack a bank account. Where there is exclusion, there is exploitation. Unbanked Americans have created a market, and thousands of check-cashing outlets now serve that market. Check-cashing stores generally charge from 1 to 10 percent of the total, depending on the type of check. That means that a worker who is paid $10 an hour and takes a $1,000 check to a check-cashing outlet will pay $10 to $100 just to receive the money he has earned, effectively losing one to 10 hours of work. (For many, this is preferable to the less-predictable exploitation by traditional banks, with their automatic overdraft fees. It’s the devil you know.) In 2020, Americans spent $1.6 billion just to cash checks. If the poor had a costless way to access their own money, over a billion dollars would have remained in their pockets during the pandemic-induced recession.

Poverty can mean missed payments, which can ruin your credit. But just as troublesome as bad credit is having no credit score at all, which is the case for 26 million adults in the United States. Another 19 million possess a credit history too thin or outdated to be scored. Having no credit (or bad credit) can prevent you from securing an apartment, buying insurance and even landing a job, as employers are increasingly relying on credit checks during the hiring process. And when the inevitable happens — when you lose hours at work or when the car refuses to start — the payday-loan industry steps in.

For most of American history, regulators prohibited lending institutions from charging exorbitant interest on loans. Because of these limits, banks kept interest rates between 6 and 12 percent and didn’t do much business with the poor, who in a pinch took their valuables to the pawnbroker or the loan shark. But the deregulation of the banking sector in the 1980s ushered the money changers back into the temple by removing strict usury limits. Interest rates soon reached 300 percent, then 500 percent, then 700 percent. Suddenly, some people were very interested in starting businesses that lent to the poor. In recent years, 17 states have brought back strong usury limits, capping interest rates and effectively prohibiting payday lending. But the trade thrives in most places. The annual percentage rate for a two-week $300 loan can reach 460 percent in California, 516 percent in Wisconsin and 664 percent in Texas.

Roughly a third of all payday loans are now issued online, and almost half of borrowers who have taken out online loans have had lenders overdraw their bank accounts. The average borrower stays indebted for five months, paying $520 in fees to borrow $375. Keeping people indebted is, of course, the ideal outcome for the payday lender. It’s how they turn a $15 profit into a $150 one. Payday lenders do not charge high fees because lending to the poor is risky — even after multiple extensions, most borrowers pay up. Lenders extort because they can.

Every year: almost $11 billion in overdraft fees, $1.6 billion in check-cashing fees and up to $8.2 billion in payday-loan fees. That’s more than $55 million in fees collected predominantly from low-income Americans each day — not even counting the annual revenue collected by pawnshops and title loan services and rent-to-own schemes. When James Baldwin remarked in 1961 how “extremely expensive it is to be poor,” he couldn’t have imagined these receipts.

“Predatory inclusion” is what the historian Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor calls it in her book “Race for Profit,” describing the longstanding American tradition of incorporating marginalized people into housing and financial schemes through bad deals when they are denied good ones. The exclusion of poor people from traditional banking and credit systems has forced them to find alternative ways to cash checks and secure loans, which has led to a normalization of their exploitation. This is all perfectly legal, after all, and subsidized by the nation’s richest commercial banks. The fringe banking sector would not exist without lines of credit extended by the conventional one. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase bankroll payday lenders like Advance America and Cash America. Everybody gets a cut.

Poverty isn’t simply the condition of not having enough money. It’s the condition of not having enough choice and being taken advantage of because of that. When we ignore the role that exploitation plays in trapping people in poverty, we end up designing policy that is weak at best and ineffective at worst. For example, when legislation lifts incomes at the bottom without addressing the housing crisis, those gains are often realized instead by landlords, not wholly by the families the legislation was intended to help. A 2019 study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that when states raised minimum wages, families initially found it easier to pay rent. But landlords quickly responded to the wage bumps by increasing rents, which diluted the effect of the policy. This happened after the pandemic rescue packages, too: When wages began to rise in 2021 after worker shortages, rents rose as well, and soon people found themselves back where they started or worse.

Antipoverty programs work. Each year, millions of families are spared the indignities and hardships of severe deprivation because of these government investments. But our current antipoverty programs cannot abolish poverty by themselves. The Johnson administration started the War on Poverty and the Great Society in 1964. These initiatives constituted a bundle of domestic programs that included the Food Stamp Act, which made food aid permanent; the Economic Opportunity Act, which created Job Corps and Head Start; and the Social Security Amendments of 1965, which founded Medicare and Medicaid and expanded Social Security benefits. Nearly 200 pieces of legislation were signed into law in President Lyndon B. Johnson’s first five years in office, a breathtaking level of activity. And the result? Ten years after the first of these programs were rolled out in 1964, the share of Americans living in poverty was half what it was in 1960.

But the War on Poverty and the Great Society were started during a time when organized labor was strong, incomes were climbing, rents were modest and the fringe banking industry as we know it today didn’t exist. Today multiple forms of exploitation have turned antipoverty programs into something like dialysis, a treatment designed to make poverty less lethal, not to make it disappear.

This means we don’t just need deeper antipoverty investments. We need different ones, policies that refuse to partner with poverty, policies that threaten its very survival. We need to ensure that aid directed at poor people stays in their pockets, instead of being captured by companies whose low wages are subsidized by government benefits, or by landlords who raise the rents as their tenants’ wages rise, or by banks and payday-loan outlets who issue exorbitant fines and fees. Unless we confront the many forms of exploitation that poor families face, we risk increasing government spending only to experience another 50 years of sclerosis in the fight against poverty.

The best way to address labor exploitation is to empower workers. A renewed contract with American workers should make organizing easy. As things currently stand, unionizing a workplace is incredibly difficult. Under current labor law, workers who want to organize must do so one Amazon warehouse or one Starbucks location at a time. We have little chance of empowering the nation’s warehouse workers and baristas this way. This is why many new labor movements are trying to organize entire sectors. The Fight for $15 campaign, led by the Service Employees International Union, doesn’t focus on a single franchise (a specific McDonald’s store) or even a single company (McDonald’s) but brings together workers from several fast-food chains. It’s a new kind of labor power, and one that could be expanded: If enough workers in a specific economic sector — retail, hotel services, nursing — voted for the measure, the secretary of labor could establish a bargaining panel made up of representatives elected by the workers. The panel could negotiate with companies to secure the best terms for workers across the industry. This is a way to organize all Amazon warehouses and all Starbucks locations in a single go.

Sectoral bargaining, as it’s called, would affect tens of millions of Americans who have never benefited from a union of their own, just as it has improved the lives of workers in Europe and Latin America. The idea has been criticized by members of the business community, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has raised concerns about the inflexibility and even the constitutionality of sectoral bargaining, as well as by labor advocates, who fear that industrywide policies could nullify gains that existing unions have made or could be achieved only if workers make other sacrifices. Proponents of the idea counter that sectoral bargaining could even the playing field, not only between workers and bosses, but also between companies in the same sector that would no longer be locked into a race to the bottom, with an incentive to shortchange their work force to gain a competitive edge. Instead, the companies would be forced to compete over the quality of the goods and services they offer. Maybe we would finally reap the benefits of all that economic productivity we were promised.

We must also expand the housing options for low-income families. There isn’t a single right way to do this, but there is clearly a wrong way: the way we’re doing it now. One straightforward approach is to strengthen our commitment to the housing programs we already have. Public housing provides affordable homes to millions of Americans, but it’s drastically underfunded relative to the need. When the wealthy township of Cherry Hill, N.J., opened applications for 29 affordable apartments in 2021, 9,309 people applied. The sky-high demand should tell us something, though: that affordable housing is a life changer, and families are desperate for it.

We could also pave the way for more Americans to become homeowners, an initiative that could benefit poor, working-class and middle-class families alike — as well as scores of young people. Banks generally avoid issuing small-dollar mortgages, not because they’re riskier — these mortgages have the same delinquency rates as larger mortgages — but because they’re less profitable. Over the life of a mortgage, interest on $1 million brings in a lot more money than interest on $75,000. This is where the federal government could step in, providing extra financing to build on-ramps to first-time homeownership. In fact, it already does so in rural America through the 502 Direct Loan Program, which has moved more than two million families into their own homes. These loans, fully guaranteed and serviced by the Department of Agriculture, come with low interest rates and, for very poor families, cover the entire cost of the mortgage, nullifying the need for a down payment. Last year, the average 502 Direct Loan was for $222,300 but cost the government only $10,370 per loan, chump change for such a durable intervention. Expanding a program like this into urban communities would provide even more low- and moderate-income families with homes of their own.

We should also ensure fair access to capital. Banks should stop robbing the poor and near-poor of billions of dollars each year, immediately ending exorbitant overdraft fees. As the legal scholar Mehrsa Baradaran has pointed out, when someone overdraws an account, banks could simply freeze the transaction or could clear a check with insufficient funds, providing customers a kind of short-term loan with a low interest rate of, say, 1 percent a day.

States should rein in payday-lending institutions and insist that lenders make it clear to potential borrowers what a loan is ultimately likely to cost them. Just as fast-food restaurants must now publish calorie counts next to their burgers and shakes, payday-loan stores should publish the average overall cost of different loans. When Texas adopted disclosure rules, residents took out considerably fewer bad loans. If Texas can do this, why not California or Wisconsin? Yet to stop financial exploitation, we need to expand, not limit, low-income Americans’ access to credit. Some have suggested that the government get involved by having the U.S. Postal Service or the Federal Reserve issue small-dollar loans. Others have argued that we should revise government regulations to entice commercial banks to pitch in. Whatever our approach, solutions should offer low-income Americans more choice, a way to end their reliance on predatory lending institutions that can get away with robbery because they are the only option available.

In Tommy Orange’s novel, “There There,” a man trying to describe the problem of suicides on Native American reservations says: “Kids are jumping out the windows of burning buildings, falling to their deaths. And we think the problem is that they’re jumping.” The poverty debate has suffered from a similar kind of myopia. For the past half-century, we’ve approached the poverty question by pointing to poor people themselves — posing questions about their work ethic, say, or their welfare benefits — when we should have been focusing on the fire. The question that should serve as a looping incantation, the one we should ask every time we drive past a tent encampment, those tarped American slums smelling of asphalt and bodies, or every time we see someone asleep on the bus, slumped over in work clothes, is simply: Who benefits? Not: Why don’t you find a better job? Or: Why don’t you move? Or: Why don’t you stop taking out payday loans? But: Who is feeding off this?

Those who have amassed the most power and capital bear the most responsibility for America’s vast poverty: political elites who have utterly failed low-income Americans over the past half-century; corporate bosses who have spent and schemed to prioritize profits over families; lobbyists blocking the will of the American people with their self-serving interests; property owners who have exiled the poor from entire cities and fueled the affordable-housing crisis. Acknowledging this is both crucial and deliciously absolving; it directs our attention upward and distracts us from all the ways (many unintentional) that we — we the secure, the insured, the housed, the college-educated, the protected, the lucky — also contribute to the problem.

Corporations benefit from worker exploitation, sure, but so do consumers, who buy the cheap goods and services the working poor produce, and so do those of us directly or indirectly invested in the stock market. Landlords are not the only ones who benefit from housing exploitation; many homeowners do, too, their property values propped up by the collective effort to make housing scarce and expensive. The banking and payday-lending industries profit from the financial exploitation of the poor, but so do those of us with free checking accounts, as those accounts are subsidized by billions of dollars in overdraft fees.

Living our daily lives in ways that express solidarity with the poor could mean we pay more; anti-exploitative investing could dampen our stock portfolios. By acknowledging those costs, we acknowledge our complicity. Unwinding ourselves from our neighbors’ deprivation and refusing to live as enemies of the poor will require us to pay a price. It’s the price of our restored humanity and renewed country.

Matthew Desmond is a professor of sociology at Princeton University and a contributing writer for the magazine. His latest book, “Poverty, by America,” from which this article is adapted, is being published on March 21 by Crown.

An earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the legal protections for undocumented workers. They are afforded rights under U.S. labor laws, though in practice those laws often fail to protect them.

An earlier version of this article implied an incorrect date for a statistic about overdraft fees. The research was conducted between 2005 and 2012, not in 2021.

How we handle corrections

Essay On Poverty

Essay On Poverty: Poverty is defined as the absence of the financial resources necessary to maintain a basic standard of living for a person or family. People with poor income cannot afford housing, health services, or education, which are all essential for their survival.

Therefore, poverty can be viewed as a lack of money, or a set of barriers to everyday life, which is a form of poverty.

By reading this essay about poverty, students can gain a better understanding of what poverty is, their major cause, and how efforts are being made to eradicate it in India. In order to be able to write effective essays and score high marks in exams, students must read this poverty in India essay in depth.

Table of Contents

Essay on Poverty 150 Words

There are many essential elements in life that contribute to better survival. Some are food, clothing, shelter, medicine, education, and other essential items. Having equal human rights is also a prerequisite. Without adequate shelter, clothing, ethical rights, and educational assistance, people are forced to starve.

Poverty is a worse situation than having equal human rights. Poverty can occur in any country for a variety of reasons, but lack of unity among the residents of the country in order to follow the solutions leads to the issues. The poverty rate is rapidly rising with each passing day due to this, as well.

Since most poor people cannot maintain their health status and receive appropriate medical aid in such situations, the spread of epidemic diseases also contributes to the rising rate of poverty in any country. Due to unclean and unhygienic food and water, and living in unhealthy conditions, people who are poor are unable to seek care from service providers and go even more at risk for diseases and illnesses.

Essay on Poverty 250 Words

Poor people do not have enough money to afford the essentials for living a perfect and healthy human life. This means that they are unable to arrange the perfect two-time meal and eat a healthy, nutritious diet. As a result, one can define poverty using a number of different criteria.

In countries like India and Africa, which are underdeveloped or developing, poverty is the most common social issue. These nations have higher poverty rates than developed nations in the world. Approximately a third of these people are unable to meet their basic needs because they lack access to better-paying opportunities and income. There are large numbers of illiterate, hungry, and homeless people living in these nations.

The country’s economy, society, and politics are all affected by poverty. Many poor people lack enough money to satisfy all their needs and live their entire lives without access to many facilities, such as clean water and a two-day meal. To earn their living, poor people must do wrong things and commit crimes.

A nation’s poverty is caused by a variety of factors, and in India, those factors include British rule, slavery conditions, and an increasing epidemic of illnesses. Low-income families do not even have access to adequate education and medical aids for their children. The comparatively more prosperous people have access to much modern advancement, which many of them are unaware of.

Essay on Poverty 500 Words

Lack of basic necessities, illiteracy, malnutrition, poor human development, and poor quality of life are all consequences of poverty. As a result, developing nations like India face a greater challenge, which significantly hinders their economic growth. People in poverty do not have access to basic necessities and a healthy lifestyle due to poverty.

A high poverty rate leads to a number of issues, such as illiteracy. Illiteracy increases as a result of a lack of money to access proper education and learning resources. Poor people are also prone to malnutrition as they cannot afford to eat properly twice a day and get a nutritious diet. As a result, there are more diseases and illnesses that also remain uncurable due to lack of medical aid, resulting in an increase in illnesses and diseases.

Poverty causes families to have lower incomes that cannot meet their needs, and therefore children are also forced into child labor. The shortage of money caused by unemployment leads to poverty and affects the daily lives of people. Additionally, poverty forces people to work in harmful conditions against their will.

Poverty causes social stress because it results in a gap between rich and poor incomes. This also creates a greater issue for people because they are forced to go outside their homes without shelter on the roads, sidewalks, or open spaces. The problem of poverty affects people of all ages and demographics in adverse ways, causing severe losses and stress for them. This is a concern, and it should be addressed by the government.

India has a higher poverty rate than other countries. Poverty occurs when people do not have shelter and are denied basic necessities such as food, water, clothing, etc. More than half of the population is unable to afford even a two-time meal, they sleep on the streets, wear dirty clothes, drink dirty water, and live in unhygienic and unhealthy conditions. People who live in poverty do not have access to proper nutrition, medical aid, education help, and other essential services.

Urban India is experiencing rapid poverty as many rural residents are shifting into urban areas, resulting in a rapid rise in poverty. Lack of employment opportunities causes people to move in search of employment and a better lifestyle, but they are often forced to work in unsafe and unpleasant conditions due to a lack of employment opportunities.

Many Indians live below the poverty line, and 4.5 crore live in slums. Most urban people are illiterate and live in slums. Over eight crore people live below the poverty line, and 4.5 crore are on the verge of poverty.

In order to prevent poverty, we can take specific steps to ensure that everyone on earth has a better life. It is essential that farmers receive adequate and necessary access to facilities for better agriculture to ensure a healthy lifestyle. A better life for the illiterate people requires adequate education and training. In order to control the population, family planning training and sex education must be provided to the public, and every child must attend school in addition to new employment opportunities.

There is no doubt that poverty is not an individual issue, but rather a national and global problem. Human resource development is threatened by poverty, so it must be addressed in the utmost urgency.

A combination of efforts should be made to eliminate all loopholes in government systems and to support organizations that strive to alleviate poverty. People need to take essential and effective actions to reduce poverty.

Essay on Morning Walk

Essay on APJ Abdul Kalam

Essay on Taj Mahal

Essay on Poverty for Children and Students

Table of Contents

Essay on Poverty: Poverty is defined as the financial condition of a person, insufficient to sustain the vital needs of his/her own family. Any person of family which is unable to provide a square meal to the members or educate its children for the want of money is termed as poor and suffering from poverty. It is curse to the society and restricts the economical and social growth of a nation. Poverty eradication in a highly populous country as India could be a herculean task; though, it could be achieved through will power of the government and society. In the world scenario, poverty is great concern in the developing, under developed and the third world nations. Poverty also results in several diseases, law and order situations and very low standard of living.

Fill Out the Form for Expert Academic Guidance!

Please indicate your interest Live Classes Books Test Series Self Learning

Verify OTP Code (required)

I agree to the terms and conditions and privacy policy .

Fill complete details

Target Exam ---

Long and Short Essay on Poverty in English

We have provided below various essay on poverty in order to help students.

Now-a-days, essays or paragraphs writing are common strategy followed by the teachers in the schools and colleges in order to enhance the skill and knowledge of students about any topic.

All the poverty essay are written using very simple words under various words limit according to the need and requirement of students.

They can select any of the essays given below according to their need and requirement in the class, any competition or exam.

Poverty Essay 1 (100 words)

Poverty is the state for any person of being extremely poor. It is the extreme situation when a person feels lack of essential items required to continue the life such as shelter, adequate food, clothing, medicines, etc. Some of the common reasons of poverty are like overpopulation, lethal and epidemic diseases, natural disasters, low agricultural output, lack of employment, casteism in country, illiteracy, gender inequality, environmental problems, changing trends of economy in the country, lack of proper education, untouchability, limited or inadequate access of people to their rights, political violence, organized crime, corruption, lack of motivation, idleness, old social beliefs, etc. Poverty in India can be reduced by following effective solutions however needs individual efforts of all the citizens.

Poverty Essay 2 (150 words)

We can define poverty as the lack of food, proper shelter, clothing, medicines, education, and equal human rights. Poverty forces a person to remain hungry, without shelter, without clothes, education and proper rights. There are various causes of poverty in the country however solutions too but because of the lack of proper unity among Indian citizens to follow solutions, poverty is increasing badly day by day. Spread of epidemic diseases in any country is the reason of poverty as poor people cannot take care of their health and hygienic condition.

Poverty makes people unable to go to doctor, to go to school, how to read, to speak properly, to eat three times meal, to wear needed clothes, to purchase own house, to get paid properly for job, etc. Poverty forces a person to go towards illness as they drink unclean water, lives at dirty places, and eat improper meal. Poverty causes powerlessness and lack of freedom.

Poverty Essay 3 (200 words)

Poverty is just like a condition of slave when a person becomes unable to do anything according to his/her wish. It has many faces which changes according to the person, place and time. It can be described in many ways a person feel it or live it. Poverty is a situation which no one wants to live however has to carry it by custom, nature, natural disaster, or lack of proper education. The person lives it, generally wants to escape. Poverty is a call to action to the poor people to earn enough money to eat, have access to education, get adequate shelter, wear needed clothes, and protection from the social and political violence.

It is an invisible problem which affects a person and his/her social life very badly in many ways. Poverty is completely preventable problem however there are many reasons which carry and continue it from the past time. Poverty keeps a person lack of freedom, mental well-being, physical well-being, and security. It is very necessary for everyone to work jointly in order to remove poverty from the country and world to bring proper physical health, mental health, complete literacy, home for everyone, and other needed things to live a simple life.

Poverty Essay 4 (250 words)

Poverty is a human condition which brings despair, grief and pain in the human life. Poverty is the lack of money and all the things required to live a life in proper manner. Poverty makes a child unable to enter to the school in childhood and lives his/her childhood in an unhappy family. Poverty is the lack of few rupees to arrange bread and butter of two times daily, buy text books for kids, grief of parents responsible for the care of children, etc. We can define poverty in many ways. It is very common to see poverty in India because most people here cannot fulfill their basic necessities of the life. A huge percentage of population here is uneducated, hungry and without home and clothe. It is the main reason of the poor Indian economy. Because of the poverty, around half population in India is living a miserable life.

Poverty creates a situation in which people fail to get sufficient income so they cannot purchase necessary things. A poor man lives his/her life without any command over basic needs such as two times food, clean drinking water, clothing, house, proper education, etc. People who fail to maintain the minimum standard of living such as consumption and nutrition required for existence. There are various reasons of poverty in India however mal distribution of national income is also a reason. Low income group people are relatively poorer than the high income group. Children of the poor family never get chance of proper schooling, proper nutrition and happy childhood. The most important reasons of the poverty are illiteracy, corruption, growing population, poor agriculture, gap between poor and rich, etc.

Poverty Essay 5 (300 words)

Poverty represents poor quality of life, illiteracy, malnutrition, lack of basic needs, low human resource development, etc. It is a biggest challenge to the developing country especially in India. It is a phenomenon in which a section of people in the society cannot fulfill their basic necessities of life. It has seen some decline in the poverty level in the last five years (26.1% in 1999-2000 from 35.97% in 1993-94). It has also declined at state level such as in Orissa it has been declined to 47.15% from 48.56%, in Madhya Pradesh 37.43% from 43.52%, in UP 31.15% from 40.85%, and in West Bengal 27.02% from 35.66%. Instead of some decline in the poverty in India it is not the matter of happiness because the Indian BPL is still very large number (26 crore).

Poverty in India can be eradicated by the use of some effective programmes, however need a joint effort by everyone not by the government only. Government of India should make some effective strategies aiming to develop poor social sector through key components like primary education, population control, family welfare, job creation, etc especially in the rural areas.

What are Effects of Poverty

Some of the effects of poverty are like:

Illiteracy: poverty makes people unable to get proper education because of the lack of money.
Nutrition and diet: poverty causes insufficient availability of diet and inadequate nutrition which brings lots of lethal diseases and deficiency diseases.
Child labor: it gives rise to the huge level illiteracy as the future of the country gets involved in the child labor at very low cost in their early age.
Unemployment: unemployment causes poverty as it creates the lack of money which affects people’s daily life. It forces people to live unfulfilled life against their will.
Social tensions: it creates social tension due to the income disparity between rich and poor.
Housing problems: it creates the bad condition for people to live without home on the footpath, roadside, other open places, many members in one room, etc.
Diseases: it gives rise to the various epidemic diseases as people with lack of money cannot maintain proper hygiene and sanitation. Also they cannot afford a doctor for the proper treatment of any disease.
Feminization of poverty: poverty affects women’s life to a great extent because of the gender-inequality and keeps them deprived of the proper-diet, nutrition, medicines and treatment facility.

Poverty Essay 6 (400 words)

Introduction

Poverty is a situation in which people remain deprived of basic necessities of life such as inadequacy of food, clothes, and shelter. Most of the people in India cannot get their two times meal properly, sleep at roadside and wear dirty and old clothes. They do not get proper and healthy nutrition, medicines, and other necessary things. Poverty in the urban India is increasing because of the increase in urban population as people from rural areas like to migrate to the cities and towns to get employment or do some financial activity. The income of around 8 crore urban people is below poverty line and 4.5 crore urban people is on borderline of poverty level. A huge number of people live in slum become illiterate. In spite of some initiatives there is no any satisfactory results shown regarding reduction of poverty.

Causes of Poverty

The main causes of poverty in India are growing population, poor agriculture, corruption, old customs, huge gap between poor and rich people, unemployment, illiteracy, epidemic diseases, etc. A huge percentage of people in India depend on agriculture which is poor and cause poverty. Generally people face shortage of food because of poor agriculture and unemployment. Ever growing population is also the reason of poverty in India. More population means more food, money and houses. In the lack of basic facilities, poverty grows more rapidly. Becoming extra rich and extra poor creates a huge widening gap between the rich and the poor people. Rich people are growing richer and poor people are growing poorer which creates an economic gap between the two.

Effects of Poverty

Poverty affects people’s life in many ways. There are various effects of poverty such as illiteracy, poor diet and nutrition, child labor, poor housing, poor life style, unemployment, poor hygiene, feminization of poverty, etc. Poor people cannot arrange a healthy diet, maintain good life style, home, nice clothes, proper education, etc because of the lack of money which creates a huge difference between rich and poor. This difference leads to the undeveloped country. Poverty forces small children to do work at low cost and help their family financially instead of going to the school.

Solutions to Eradicate Poverty

It is very necessary to solve the problem of poverty on urgent basis for the goodness of humanity on this planet. Some of the solutions that can play great role in solving the problem of poverty are:

Farmers should get proper and required facilities for good agriculture as well as to make it profitable.
Adult people who are illiterate should be given required training for the betterment of life.
Family planning should be followed by the people in order to check the ever-rising population and thus poverty.
Corruption should be ended all over the world to reduce the poverty.
Each and every child should go to the school and take proper education.
There should be ways of employment where people of all categories can work together.

Poverty is not only the problem of a person however it is a national problem. It must be solved on urgent basis by implementing some effective solutions. Variety of steps has been taken by the government to reduce poverty however no clear results are seen. Eradication of poverty is necessary for the sustainable and inclusive growth of people, economy, society and country. Eradication of poverty can be done effectively by the unite effort of each and every person.

Related Information:

Slogans on Poverty

Paragraph on Poverty

Essay on Beggars

Essay on Food Waste

What is Poverty? Exercise : Summary and Question Answers

Share this article, what is poverty.

You can download our android app using below button to get offline access to the notes directly from your phone.

Understanding the text

Answer the following questions., a. what is poverty according to parker, b. how is poverty difficult for parker’s children list some specific examples., c. how does parker try to obtain help, and what problems does she encounter, d. why are people’s opinions and prejudices her greatest obstacles, e. how does parker defend her inability to get help how does she discount the usual solutions society has for poverty (e.g., welfare, education, and health clinics), reference to the context, a. explain the following: poverty is looking into a black future., b. what does parker mean by “the poor are always silent”, c. what writing strategy does the author use at the beginning of most of the paragraphs do you notice a recurring pattern what is it, d. how does parker develop each paragraph what details make each paragraph memorable, e. in the final paragraph, how does the author use questions to involve the reader in the issue of poverty, reference beyond the text, a. define a social problem (homelessness, unemployment, racism) imitating parker’s style..

A Social Problem: Unemployment

b. Using adjectives to highlight the futility of the situation, write a short definition essay on Growing up in Poverty.

Essay on Growing Up in Poverty

Don't miss our Nepali Guide

Moreover, If you have any doubt, suggestions or feedback about our services, then please feel free to contact us. You can contact us from the Contact Page . We will be happy to read your feedback and suggestions.

Additionally, You can also check our Privacy Policy page if you want to know how we may use your data generated from visiting this website.

#WalangPasok
Breaking News
Photography
ALS Exam Results
Aeronautical Engineering Board Exam Result
Agricultural and Biosystem Engineering Board Exam Result
Agriculturist Board Exam Result
Architecture Exam Results
BAR Exam Results
CPA Exam Results
Certified Plant Mechanic Exam Result
Chemical Engineering Exam Results
Chemical Technician Exam Result
Chemist Licensure Exam Result
Civil Engineering Exam Results
Civil Service Exam Results
Criminology Exam Results
Customs Broker Exam Result
Dental Hygienist Board Exam Result
Dental Technologist Board Exam Result
Dentist Licensure Exam Result
ECE Exam Results
ECT Board Exam Result
Environmental Planner Exam Result
Featured Exam Results
Fisheries Professional Exam Result
Geodetic Engineering Board Exam Result
Guidance Counselor Board Exam Result
Interior Design Board Exam Result
LET Exam Results
Landscape Architect Board Exam Result
Librarian Exam Result
Master Plumber Exam Result
Mechanical Engineering Exam Results
MedTech Exam Results
Metallurgical Engineering Board Exam Result
Midwives Board Exam Result
Mining Engineering Board Exam Result
NAPOLCOM Exam Results
Naval Architect and Marine Engineer Board Exam Result
Nursing Exam Results
Nutritionist Dietitian Board Exam Result
Occupational Therapist Board Exam Result
Ocular Pharmacologist Exam Result
Optometrist Board Exam Result
Pharmacist Licensure Exam Result
Physical Therapist Board Exam
Physician Exam Results
Principal Exam Results
Professional Forester Exam Result
Psychologist Board Exam Result
Psychometrician Board Exam Result
REE Board Exam Result
RME Board Exam Result
Radiologic Technology Board Exam Result
Real Estate Appraiser Exam Result
Real Estate Broker Exam Result
Real Estate Consultant Exam Result
Respiratory Therapist Board Exam Result
Sanitary Engineering Board Exam Result
Social Worker Exam Result
UPCAT Exam Results
Upcoming Exam Result
Veterinarian Licensure Exam Result
X-Ray Technologist Exam Result
Programming
Smartphones
Web Hosting
Social Media
SWERTRES RESULT
EZ2 RESULT TODAY
STL RESULT TODAY
6/58 LOTTO RESULT
6/55 LOTTO RESULT
6/49 LOTTO RESULT
6/45 LOTTO RESULT
6/42 LOTTO RESULT
6-Digit Lotto Result
4-Digit Lotto Result
3D RESULT TODAY
2D Lotto Result
English to Tagalog
English-Tagalog Translate
Maikling Kwento
EUR to PHP Today
Pounds to Peso
Binibining Pilipinas
Miss Universe
Family (Pamilya)
Life (Buhay)
Love (Pag-ibig)
School (Eskwela)
Work (Trabaho)
Pinoy Jokes
Tagalog Jokes
Referral Letters
Student Letters
Employee Letters
Business Letters
Pag-IBIG Fund
Home Credit Cash Loan
Pick Up Lines Tagalog
Pork Dishes
Lotto Result Today
Viral Videos

Short Essays About Poverty – Examples And More

Examples of short essays about poverty.

POVERTY – It is one of the most prevalent problems throughout the world. In this article, we are going to give examples of short essays about poverty.

Short Essays About Poverty - Examples And More

Poverty is but a byproduct of several inadequacies of a government. People might argue that being poor should not be a reason to remain in poverty. Some might even argue that all a person truly needs is hard work and determination.

Although there are several rags to riches stories already, the majority of the time, that is not the case. As such, the question we should be asking is why?

The answer is simple – a lack of opportunity. Because of the large gap between the poor and the middle class and the rich, there is a gross lack of opportunities for those in the poorest sectors.

This is due to several factors as well. However, the primary reason for this is a lack of education. Or rather, a lack of an educational system that serves as a platform for students to excel in life rather than just academics.

Today’s educational system highly rewards those who are “hardworking” when studying. Tests are mostly done as a measure of how much a student “remembers” rather than how much they “understand”.

Governments cut the budget for their educational plans and as a result, better programs are set aside. Thus, in order to start addressing the problems of poverty, me must first address the problems with the educational system.

Thanks for reading. We aim to provide our readers with the freshest and most in-demand content. Come back next time for the latest news here on Philnews.

Like this article? READ ALSO: The Man With The Hoe – Full Text Of The Poem By Edwin Markham

Poverty in India Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on poverty in india.

Poverty refers to a situation in which a person remain underprivileged from the basic necessities of life. In addition, the person does not have an inadequate supply of food, shelter, and clothes. In India, most of the people who are suffering from poverty cannot afford to pay for a single meal a day. Also, they sleep on the roadside; wear dirty old clothes. In addition, they do not get proper healthy and nutritious food, neither medicine nor any other necessary thing.

Causes of Poverty

The rate of poverty in India is increasing because of the increase in the urban population. The rural people are migrating to cities to find better employment. Most of these people find an underpaid job or an activity that pays only for their food. Most importantly, around crores of urban people are below the poverty line and many of the people are on the borderline of poverty.

Besides, a huge number of people live in low-lying areas or slums. These people are mostly illiterate and in spite of efforts their condition remains the same and there is no satisfactory result.

Furthermore, there are many reasons that we can say are the major cause of poverty in India. These causes include corruption, growing population, poor agriculture , the wide gap of rich and poor, old customs, illiteracy, unemployment and few more. A large section of people are engaged in an agricultural activity but the activity pays very less in comparison to the work done by employees.

Also, more population needs more food, houses and money and in the lack of these facilities the poverty grows very quickly. In addition, being extra poor and extra rich also widens the gap between the rich and poor.

Moreover, the rich are growing richer and the poor are getting poorer creating an economic gap that is difficult to fill up.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Effects of Poverty

It affects people living in a lot of ways. Also, it has various effects that include illiteracy, reduced nutrition and diet, poor housing, child labor, unemployment , poor hygiene and lifestyle, and feminization of poverty, etc. Besides, this poor people cannot afford a healthy and balanced diet, nice clothes, proper education , a stable and clean house, etc. because all these facilities require money and they don’t even have money to feed two meals a day then how can they afford to pay for these facilities.

The Solutions for Ending Poverty

For solving the problem of poverty it is necessary for us to act quickly and correctly. Some of the ways of solving these problems are to provide proper facilities to farmers . So, that they can make agriculture profitable and do not migrate to cities in search of employment.

Also, illiterate people should be given the required training so that they can live a better life. To check the rising population, family planning should be followed. Besides, measures should be taken to end corruption, so that we can deal with the gap between rich and poor.

In conclusion, poverty is not the problem of a person but of the whole nation. Also, it should be deal with on an urgent basis by the implementation of effective measures. In addition, eradication of poverty has become necessary for the sustainable and inclusive growth of people, society, country, and economy .

FAQs about Poverty in India Essay

Q.1 List some ways to end poverty in India. A.1 Some ways to end poverty in India are:

Develop a national poverty reduction plan
Equal access to healthcare and education
Sanitation facility
Food, water, shelter, and clothing facility
Enhance economic growth with targeted action

Q.2 Which is the poorest state in India? A.2 Chhattisgarh is the poorest state of the country.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

Travelling Essay
Picnic Essay
Our Country Essay
My Parents Essay
Essay on Favourite Personality
Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
Essay on Knowledge is Power
Essay on Gurpurab
Essay on My Favourite Season
Essay on Types of Sports

Download the App

Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Full Topic List

Regions & Countries

Publications
Our Methods
Short Reads
Tools & Resources

Read Our Research On:

A growing share of Americans say affordable housing is a major problem where they live

A "for rent" sign is posted on an apartment building on June 2, 2021, in San Francisco.

Prospective homebuyers and renters across the United States have seen prices surge and supply plummet during the coronavirus pandemic . Amid these circumstances, about half of Americans (49%) say the availability of affordable housing in their local community is a major problem, up 10 percentage points from early 2018, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in October 2021.

This Pew Research Center analysis about the levels of concern among Americans about the affordability of housing draws from a Center survey designed to understand Americans’ views and preferences for where they live.

The survey of 9,676 U.S. adults was conducted from Oct. 18 to 24, 2021. Everyone who took part is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology .

References to White, Black and Asian adults include only those who are not Hispanic and identify as only one race. Hispanics are of any race.

“Middle income” is defined here as two-thirds to double the median annual family income for panelists on the American Trends Panel. “Lower income” falls below that range; “upper income” falls above it. Read the methodology for more details.

References to respondents who live in urban, suburban or rural communities are based on respondents’ answer to the following question: “How would you describe the community where you currently live? (1) urban, (2) suburban, (3) rural.”

A bar chart showing that younger Americans, urban residents, and those with lower incomes are more likely to express concern about the availability of affordable housing

Another 36% of U.S. adults said in the fall that affordable housing availability is a minor problem in their community, while just 14% said it is not a problem.

Americans’ concerns about the availability of affordable housing have outpaced worries about other local issues. The percentage of adults who say this is a major problem where they live is larger than the shares who say the same about drug addiction (35%), the economic and health impacts of COVID-19 (34% and 26%, respectively) and crime (22%).

Opinions on the question of housing affordability differ by a variety of demographic factors, including income, race and ethnicity, and age. A majority of adults living in lower-income households (57%) say availability of affordable housing is a major issue in their community, larger than the shares of those in middle- (47%) or upper-income households (42%) who say it is a major problem.

Fewer than half of White adults (44%) say that availability of affordable housing is a major problem where they live – lower than the shares of Black (57%), Hispanic and Asian American adults (both 55%) who say the same.

Adults under 50 are more likely than their older counterparts to say affordable housing availability is a major problem locally. More than half of adults ages 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 say this (55% in both age groups), compared with smaller shares of those 50 to 64 and those 65 and older (44% and 39%, respectively).

Americans’ perceptions of this issue also vary based on where they live. About six-in-ten U.S. adults living in urban areas (63%) say that the availability of affordable housing in their community is a major problem, compared with 46% of suburban residents and 40% of those living in rural areas.

Regardless of income level, city dwellers generally tend to view affordable housing availability as a bigger issue than those living in the suburbs or rural areas. Two-thirds of urban adults with lower household incomes (66%) say affordable housing in their area is a major problem, compared with 56% of suburban dwellers with lower incomes and 52% of those with lower incomes living in rural areas. Among upper-income adults, 58% of those living in urban areas say housing affordability is a major problem, compared with 43% of upper-income Americans living in suburban places and 25% of upper-income rural residents.

There are also regional differences. Around seven-in-ten Americans living in the West (69%) say affordable housing availability is a major problem locally. This compares with 49% of Northeasterners, 44% of Americans in the South and 33% of those living in the Midwest.

A rising share of Americans say affordable housing in their area is a major issue

Since 2018, there have been increases across demographic groups in the shares who say that the availability of affordable housing in their community is a major problem. For example, 55% of adults under 30 now say this is a major problem – a 16 percentage point rise from the 39% who said so in 2018. The share of adults ages 30 to 49 who hold this view has also risen from 42% in 2018 to 55% last year.

About six-in-ten Democrats and independents who lean to the Democratic Party (59%) said in 2021 that affordable housing availability is a major problem in their community, compared with 36% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.

A chart showing that Americans living in urban areas are more likely to see affordable housing availability locally as a major problem, regardless of party affiliation

These partisan differences remain when looking separately at those who live in urban, suburban and rural communities. Among urban residents, two-thirds of Democrats (67%) see the availability of affordable housing locally as a major problem, compared with 54% of Republicans in urban areas. In suburban or rural communities, smaller majorities of Democrats hold this view (56% in the suburbs and 54% in rural places), compared with around a third of Republicans in those areas (35% and 31%, respectively).

Note: Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology .

Economic Conditions
Economic Inequality
Homeownership & Renting
Issue Priorities
Personal Finances
Rural, Urban and Suburban Communities

A look at small businesses in the U.S.

State of the union 2024: where americans stand on the economy, immigration and other key issues, americans more upbeat on the economy; biden’s job rating remains very low, online shopping has grown rapidly in u.s., but most sales are still in stores, congress has long struggled to pass spending bills on time, most popular.

1615 L St. NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 USA (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax (+1) 202-419-4372 | Media Inquiries

Research Topics

Age & Generations
Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Economy & Work
Family & Relationships
Gender & LGBTQ
Immigration & Migration
International Affairs
Internet & Technology
Methodological Research
News Habits & Media
Non-U.S. Governments
Other Topics
Politics & Policy
Race & Ethnicity
Email Newsletters

ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Terms & Conditions

Cookie Settings

Reprints, Permissions & Use Policy

IMAGES

Poverty Essay Hook
Children And Poverty Children And Young People Essay
👍 Ending poverty essay. 50+ Poverty Essay Topics, Titles & Examples In English FREE. 2019-01-14
Essay on Poverty
Write an essay on Poverty
Poverty Essay Introduction

VIDEO

Poverty Essay || Essay on Poverty || Essay Writing || Poverty
ESSAY:POVERTY IS EVIL
very sed poverty 😭
Essay On Poverty In English||Essay Writing
Essay on poverty in english
English Essay writing|Class 8|Effects of poverty on Human Life|Essay on Poverty

COMMENTS

Poverty Essay for Students in English
Essay on Poverty. Poverty is a disease that has no cure. The deeper this disease is, the deeper its wound. By the way, man lives under compulsion. But usually one wants to avoid it. Poverty is a condition of extreme poverty for any person or human being. This is a situation when a person starts to lack important things in his life such as the ...
Poverty Essay for Students and Children
500+ Words Essay on Poverty Essay. "Poverty is the worst form of violence". - Mahatma Gandhi. We can define poverty as the condition where the basic needs of a family, like food, shelter, clothing, and education are not fulfilled. It can lead to other problems like poor literacy, unemployment, malnutrition, etc.
Short Essay on Poverty [100, 200, 400 Words] With PDF
Short Essay on Poverty in 400 Words. The father of our nation, Mahatma Gandhi, once said - "poverty is the worst form of violence". And it is true indeed. Poverty is when people do not have enough money to meet their basic needs including food, clean water, clothing, shelter and medical necessities. Today, more than 689 million people are ...
Poverty
Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs. Learn more about types and causes of poverty in this article. ... (long- or short-term or cyclical) and distribution (widespread, concentrated, individual). (Read Indira Gandhi's 1975 Britannica essay on global underprivilege.) Cyclical poverty. Cyclical poverty ...
PDF What Is Poverty?
"What Is Poverty?" Jo Goodwin Parker The following selection was published in America's Other Children: Public Schools Outside Suburbs, by George Henderson in 1971 by the University of Oklahoma Press. The author has requested that no biographical information about her be distributed. The essay is a personal account, addressed directly to
7 Essays About Poverty: Example Essays And Prompts
Essays about poverty give valuable insight into the economic situation that we share globally. Read our guide with poverty essay examples and prompts for your paper. In the US, the official poverty rate in 2022 was 11.5 percent, with 37.9 million people living below the poverty line. With a global pandemic, cost of living crisis, and climate ...
390 Poverty Essay Topics & Free Essay Examples
Poverty in "A Modest Proposal" by Swift. The high number of children born to poor families presents significant problems for a country."A Modest Proposal" is a satirical essay by Jonathan Swift that proposes a solution to the challenge facing the kingdom. "Facing Poverty With a Rich Girl's Habits" by Suki Kim.
5 Essays About Poverty Everyone Should Know
5 Essays About Poverty Everyone Should Know. Poverty is one of the driving forces of inequality in the world. Between 1990-2015, much progress was made. The number of people living on less than $1.90 went from 36% to 10%. However, according to the World Bank, the COVID-19 pandemic represents a serious problem that disproportionately impacts the ...
Essay on Poverty: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words
Essay on Poverty in 100 words. Poverty is defined as a state of scarcity, and the lack of material possessions to such an extreme extent that people have difficulties in fulfilling their basic needs. Robert McNamara, a former World Bank President, states that extreme poverty is limited by illiteracy, malnutrition, disease, high infant mortality ...
Essay on Poverty for all Class in 100 to 500 Words in English
Short Essay on Poverty (250 - 300 Words) Introduction. Poverty is an increasing problem in the world today. It is defined as the lack of basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, and access to health care and education. It is a multifaceted issue that affects both individuals and societies.
Poverty Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas
233 essay samples found. Poverty, a state of deprivation of basic human needs and economic opportunities, is a pervasive issue across the globe. Essays could explore the systemic causes of poverty, its impact on individuals and communities, and the various strategies employed to alleviate poverty. Additionally, discussions might delve into the ...
poverty
The poverty line is adjusted annually for inflation. While the poverty line in the United States was more than $23,000, the median annual household income in Haiti was $2,735, in Indonesia $2,199, in Rwanda $1,101, and in Liberia $781. Any family in those countries with an income of $23,000 would be considered wealthy.
Poverty: A Very Short Introduction
Poverty: A Very Short Introduction explores how the answers to these questions lie in the social, political, economic, educational, and technological processes that impact all of us throughout our lives—from the circumstances of birth and gender to access to clean water and whether it is wartime or peacetime. The degree of vulnerability is ...
Poverty Essay For Students In English
Poverty is defined as a condition in which a person or family lacks the financial resources to afford a basic, minimum standard of living. Poor people don't have adequate income; they can't afford housing, health facilities and education which are essential for basic survival. So, poverty can be understood simply as a lack of money, or more ...
Full article: Defining the characteristics of poverty and their
The individual- and context-specific nature of poverty also influences the poverty analysis process. It helps poverty analysts to capture variations of the nature and severity of poverty according to age and gender as well as social, cultural, economic, political, environmental and spatial contexts. 3.4.
Effects of poverty, hunger and homelessness on children and youth
The impact of poverty on young children is significant and long lasting. Poverty is associated with substandard housing, hunger, homelessness, inadequate childcare, unsafe neighborhoods, and under-resourced schools. In addition, low-income children are at greater risk than higher-income children for a range of cognitive, emotional, and health ...
Poverty Essay for Students and Children in English
You can also find more Essay Writing articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more. Long and Short Essays on Poverty for Students and Kids in English. We provide children and students with essay samples on a long essay of 500 words and a short essay of 150 words on the topic "Poverty" for reference.
Why Poverty Persists in America
On the problem of poverty, though, there has been no real improvement — just a long stasis. As estimated by the federal government's poverty line, 12.6 percent of the U.S. population was poor ...
Essay On Poverty For Students In English (2024)
Essay On Poverty: Poverty is defined as the absence of the financial resources necessary to maintain a basic standard of living for a person or family. People with poor income cannot afford housing, health services, or education, which are all essential for their survival. Therefore, poverty can be viewed as a lack of money, or a set of barriers to everyday life, which is a form of poverty.
Essay on Poverty for Children and Students
Poverty Essay 4 (250 words) Poverty is a human condition which brings despair, grief and pain in the human life. Poverty is the lack of money and all the things required to live a life in proper manner. Poverty makes a child unable to enter to the school in childhood and lives his/her childhood in an unhappy family.
What Is Poverty? Exercise : Question Answers
b. Using adjectives to highlight the futility of the situation, write a short definition essay on Growing up in Poverty. Essay on Growing Up in Poverty. Poverty is a state or condition in which a person or community lacks the financial resources and essentials for a minimum standard of living. Poverty means that the income level from employment ...
Short Essays About Poverty
In this article, we are going to give examples of short essays about poverty. Poverty is but a byproduct of several inadequacies of a government. People might argue that being poor should not be a reason to remain in poverty. Some might even argue that all a person truly needs is hard work and determination. Although there are several rags to ...
Poverty in India Essay for Students and Children
FAQs about Poverty in India Essay. Q.1 List some ways to end poverty in India. A.1 Some ways to end poverty in India are: Develop a national poverty reduction plan. Equal access to healthcare and education. Sanitation facility. Food, water, shelter, and clothing facility. Enhance economic growth with targeted action.
Affordable housing is a major local problem, more Americans now say
Around seven-in-ten Americans living in the West (69%) say affordable housing availability is a major problem locally. This compares with 49% of Northeasterners, 44% of Americans in the South and 33% of those living in the Midwest. Since 2018, there have been increases across demographic groups in the shares who say that the availability of ...

Essay on Poverty

Reasons of Poverty

Measures to Control Poverty

Short Essays on Poverty

FAQs on Poverty Essay for Students in English

Short Essay on Poverty [100, 200, 400 Words] With PDF

Table of Contents

More from English Compositions

7 Essays About Poverty: Example Essays and Prompts

Essays About Poverty: Top Examples

10 Poverty Essay Topics

5. The Basic Facts About Children in Poverty

6. The State of America’s Children

7. COVID-19: This is how many Americans now live below the poverty line

390 Poverty Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 Best Poverty Topics & Free Essay Examples

Poverty Statistics

Causes of Poverty

Consequences of Poverty

Government Policies

Solutions to Poverty

5 Essays About Poverty Everyone Should Know

“We need an economic bill of rights” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“How Poverty Can Follow Children Into Adulthood” – Priyanka Boghani

“5 Reasons COVID-19 Will Impact the Fight to End Extreme Poverty” – Leah Rodriguez

“Climate apartheid”: World’s poor to suffer most from disasters” – Al Jazeera and news Agencies

“Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America” – Barbara Ehrenreich

You may also like

12 Ways Poverty Affects Society

15 Great Charities to Donate to in 2024

15 Quotes Exposing Injustice in Society

14 Trusted Charities Helping Civilians in Palestine

The Great Migration: History, Causes and Facts

Social Change 101: Meaning, Examples, Learning Opportunities

Rosa Parks: Biography, Quotes, Impact

Top 20 Issues Women Are Facing Today

Top 20 Issues Children Are Facing Today

15 Root Causes of Climate Change

15 Facts about Rosa Parks

Abolitionist Movement: History, Main Ideas, and Activism Today

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today

Essay on Poverty: Samples in 100, 200, 300 Words

Essay on Poverty in 100 words

Essay on Poverty in 200 words

Essay on Poverty in 300 words

Reasons Behind Poverty

World Poverty Conditions

Role of NGOs to Eradicate Poverty

What Can be Done by Us?

Deepansh Gautam

Connect With Us

25,000+ students realised their study abroad dream with us. Take the first step today.

Need help with?

Country Preference

Which English test are you planning to take?

When are you planning to take the exam?

Which Degree do you wish to pursue?

What is your budget to study abroad?

Make your study abroad dream a reality in January 2022 with

Essex Direct Admission Day

Essay on Poverty

Short and Long Poverty Essay in English

Poverty Essay 10 Lines (100 – 150 Words)

Short Essay on Poverty (250 – 300 Words)

Long Essay on Poverty (500 Words)

FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions on Poverty

Related Posts

Poverty - List of Free Essay Examples And Topic Ideas

Poverty and Drug Abuse Addiction

Changing the Face of Poverty Summary

Racism in Criminal Justice System

Impact of Poverty on the Society

Poverty in the United States

Unemployment a Major Cause of Homelessness

Breaking the Poverty Trap

Childhood Poverty

Homelessness in the United States

Poverty in Developing Countries

Closing the Education Gap by Attacking Poverty Among Children

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act