Poverty is characterized by unequal allocation of land and resources, a low growth rate of incomes, limited job opportunities, poor population control, and failure in the promotion of a nations’ economic growth. Poor people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs, including food, shelter, clothing, sanitation, education, and healthcare. Social and economic status can affect people’s decision-making and behaviors towards a particular situation. People growing up in poverty make their decisions based on the active circumstances for survival. Countries or people with low socio-economic status are associated with inhibited performance in activities assessing educational ability due to insufficient cognitive resources essential to perform well in learning institutions. Enough learning materials help students acquire diverse knowledge from various information sources that allow them to make informed decisions critical for solving the present and future challenges. Poverty impacts people’s lives, including children, unemployment, poor infrastructure, child labor, malnutrition, and diseases. Promoting equality and representation for all, increasing access to education, and food security is the best solution to eliminate poverty and enhance economic development.
Poverty weakens a country’s economy when people spend less money on their daily activities, including education, investments, and job opportunities. children from low-income societies attend schools that pay a low amount of money in exchange for teaching. These schools lack funding resources to finance their learning materials essential for learning (Bellani and Bia 52). Students underperform because the available study materials do not equip them with vasty skills necessary for tackling complex tasks and presents them with limited skills and knowledge for various job opportunities. these students cannot be selected for global job openings that aim to promote diversity because of their poor educational backgrounds, and limited skills on the available fields. Investment invisibilities, including fixed spending costs, promote incomplete or uncompetitive markets which harm the country’s economy. Poor people cannot invest in risky business or global markets because they fair the risks associated with market failures. Poverty hinders people’s expenditure and poses difficulties in education and investments, weakening a country’s economic status.
Poverty is associated with the social exclusion concept. The poor people have to live with other poor individuals with denial of goods and services, resources, and inability to experience social equality with that better-off class of people. Social exclusion is concerned with groups rather than individuals who are excluded from ordinary activities of the society due to their socio-economic status that hinder their participation with others (Hoff and Walsh 20). people who experience SE develop a certain level of aggression which damages their ability to control behaviors and perceive other actions as hostile. For instance, other families cannot serve a visitor until they are done eating, which can be aggressive behavior to others from a different group. Social exclusion can cause conflicts in schools and the neighborhood, resulting in wars and fights between communities. People experiencing SE can develop mental health concerns, decrease productivity, and impact employee turnover. Tackling social exclusion can help eliminate poverty and promote better income, health, education, and equal allocation of resources critical for a strong economy and social wellbeing.
A strong community is characterized by a better education system, high-quality healthcare, employment, and people with passion and diverse perspectives to share and create a comprehensive platform for cohesion and resilience. Communities face challenges, and with all the aspects of a strong community maintained, people can make informed decisions and real and lasting change to solve community problems (Koh). People from various communities within a country can share values and norms, which can be fundamental for the country’s progress. Sharing knowledge and skills can be critical for increasing and strengthening the economic status. Strong communities create common goals, freedom of expression, promote fairness, and address individual issues with sensitivity to avoid conflicts. However, poverty undermines all these aspects of a strong community, leading to inequality and corruption that leads to unemployment and limited access to education and healthcare. Therefore, with proper strategies to eliminate poverty, the challenges associated with poor socio-economic status can be solved to provide a better lifestyle for everyone.
Poverty negatively affects children’s wellbeing, emotional and cognitive development, social behaviors, and schooling. In low-income families, pregnant mothers experience issues with maternal malnutrition and disease, which determine the survival rate of the infant. Problems including premature birth expose a child to the unhealthy lifestyle associated with chronic health issues that limit the child’s ability to perform daily activities and require medical attention. Chronic conditions including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer are life-threatening and can result in death. These children’s health may not allow them access to a good education because of their infections that require attention. Poverty increases children’s physical and emotional stress characterized by insufficient care and economic resources within a family lead to child labor and trafficking (Bellani and Bia 40). Social deprivation associated with poverty makes children feel less valued, lower self-esteem, and other mental illnesses affect their cognitive development. Poor health outcomes affect people’s productivity and performance, providing limited job opportunities to foster personal growth.
People living in poverty lack resources to acquire a decent job that pays a living wage or may not be employed because of their skill set that does not conform to job specifications. If hired, their income does not meet all the necessary expenses for their families, which leads to indebtedness from loans carried to support their needs. The use of savings to perform functions including malnutrition reduces future retirement funds affecting one’s financial status, and eventually unemployed. In a country with a high unemployment rate and an increasing population, the future generation and employment are highly impacted, which will create a context where the majority of the citizens are poor (Bala et al.50). As a result, the country’s economic status is hindered, and poverty rued everywhere, leading to healthcare risks, limited access to education, and job opportunities. A high unemployment rate presents youth with a chance to engage in other criminal activities to earn income. As the number of criminals increases in a country, political instability emerges, affecting other sectors of the economy, including healthcare, education, and trading essential for a strong economic country.
Infrastructure is a significant determinant of a well-developed country, including a better healthcare system, food security, education, employment, and transportation. With proper infrastructure, communities experience increased productivity and quality of life (Koh). Operational procedures and facilities that facilitate performance contribute to the country’s infrastructure, including roads and railways, sanitation equipment, communication channels, and power supplies. Consistent power availability in every location promotes advanced functionality in educational institutes, markets, and healthcare settings. Without a proper functional infrastructure, the production of resources in industries and other platforms is reduced, hindering its development, which causes economic instability and low living standards. For instance, the unavailability of transportation in a particular country community indicates that people from those areas cannot easily travel to towns or cities for jobs. Places with sufficient and well-established healthcare structures experience high-quality care, and better roads facilitate access to care plans. Poor roads pose difficulty for companies that may want to shift to rural areas for development and expansion, leading to loss of opportunities for rural area residents. Without jobs, people cannot satisfy their basic needs leading to poverty.
The effect of poverty on children and education is the most important to pay attention to because proper education promotes equality and representation for everyone, and children will grow with a diverse mindset. New generations come with the advancement of what they found existing (Kirp). Those from low-income families will continue being poor unless they develop a new way of living different from their parents. Those born and see their parent corrupting others or accepting corruption will continue to follow what their elders are doing, and the process will continue. Paying attention to these two effects of poverty, and employing the best strategies, including ensuring equal education for all, can help solve challenges associated with poverty and promote a better lifestyle for everyone.
Increasing access to education equips students with the vast skills and knowledge needed for career opportunities, and they can make informed decisions for future changes. Equal education will promote equality and representation for all, avoiding marginalization (Bellani and Bia 60). Ensuring all groups are involved in decision-making is critical to eliminating poverty. Students from low-income countries acquire primary education without advancements or tackling essential aspects of the intended study. In this case, if those countries improve their education system and ensure equal education, those countries can significantly reduce poverty. Education equips students with knowledge and skills to be intelligent and positively impact their lives.
The effects of poverty on people’s living standards and access to resources are well known. Deprivation is an important matter that needs attention to avoid the emergence of various diseases and promote a better lifestyle (Kirp). Poverty is associated with unemployment, health concerns, and poor infrastructure. Nevertheless, being poor is a personal decision. One of free society’s principles is the right for people to choose what they want to be with themselves. In this context, people choose to drink to the extent of resignation from their current jobs, and the moment they realize they need an appointment, it is already taken by others. Additionally, people from wealthy families choose to be thieves and perform crimes. Therefore, it would be inappropriate for the government to select people’s will, and it would cause conflicts if nations implement laws that take away people’s freedom.
In conclusion, poverty affects many people globally, experiencing poor living conditions, limited access to education, unemployment, poor infrastructure, malnutrition, and child labor. Poverty affects children’s cognitive development because they grow up in poor living conditions with a flawed education system and infrastructure that does not promote high-quality studies. These conditions lead to lower-confident, lower self-esteemed individuals with low academic performance, limiting employment opportunities. Poverty affects people’s health, including newborn babies with chronic conditions that negatively impact their living standards. Impoverished people live in poor infrastructure, which poses transportation, healthcare, and educational difficulties. Equality and representation for all and quality education are the best solutions for eliminating poverty and ensuring better living standards.
Works Cited
Bala, Umar et al. “Impact of Population Growth, Poverty and Unemployment on Economic Growth.” Asian Business Research Journal, vol. 5, 2020, pp. 48-54. Asian Educational Journal Publishing Group.
Bellani, Luna, and Michela Bia. “The Long‐Run Effect of Childhood Poverty and The Mediating Role of Education.” Journal Of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society), vol. 182, no. 1, 2018, pp. 37-68. Wiley.
Hoff, Karla, and James Walsh. “The Whys of Social Exclusion: Insights from Behavioral Economics.” The World Bank Research Observer, vol. 33, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-33. Oxford University Press (OUP).
Kirp, David. “Opinion | A Way to Break the Cycle of Poverty”. Nytimes.Com, 2021. Web.
Koh, Jae-Myong. Green Infrastructure Financing. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.