- Hello, I’m Hayun and right now I’m going to talk about one of the biggest, most serious problems in the world today: poverty. But what do I mean when I say poverty? Most of you think you know already, but poverty is best described as a way of life that’s very difficult to escape from. It’s when you don’t have enough money to provide yourself and your family with decent living conditions.
- This leads to a number of other problems. If you can’t afford good food, then you’ll suffer from malnutrition. If you can’t concentrate at school because you’re hungry, then you can’t get a good education. If you don’t have a warm and safe home, then you are vulnerable to disease, and won’t be able to afford any medicine. On top of all that, your quality of life is lower. Imagine not being able to enjoy video games, going to fast-food restaurants, or enjoying a nice overseas holiday.
- But how do people get dragged into poverty? For most people, they are born into it, and find it very difficult to find a way out. Another way is that a person could struggle with financial problems, such as a gambling or alcohol addiction. Then there’s natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tsunamis or floods. A person without insurance could go bankrupt or some people simply live in countries with weak economies.
| - So how many people in the world are living in poverty? Every year, more than three million people struggle through a day-to-day life of extreme poverty. Only roughly one hundred thousand people manage to drag themselves out of poverty, and that’s only one tenth of a million!
- In the year 2000, only 30 million people were living through poverty. In 2014, 46 million people were living in poverty. Today 736 million people live through extreme poverty, now that is a surprisingly disgusting number of people. How surprised are you?
- World charities that combat poverty aim to have nobody living in such misery by the year 2030, but they need our help to end it! This includes reducing the amount of people living in poverty by allowing them to earn more than $1.90 per day, providing them with clean water, food and medicine, and letting them thrive.
- We can help by donating money or food to the proper charities, or go one step further and start volunteering at shelters that assist homeless people. In our extra time, we can raise money and awareness of the problem. What will you do to help?
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