All over the world, countries are stricken with famine. Children and adults alike are forced to live in miserable circumstances without proper living conditions or enough food. This situation, known as poverty, is an economic condition brought about when people lack sufficient income to be able to provide health services, housing, clothing, and education to themselves and their families. Even the richest of countries have impoverished families living within their borders, but the poverty line differs according to the average standard of living in that country. The United States, for example, bases its poverty line on an annual income figure, though it also depends on family size and is adjusted annually to allow for inflation. By current standards in the United States, most people elsewhere in the world would be considered to be poor. It is necessary to show that, with the fact in mind that the United States is much richer than many other countries, the poverty rate in the United States in 1992 was 14.5 percent.

Poverty can be caused by many different problems. One cause of poverty is that people who have a lower than average ability to earn income are more likely to be poor than those people who are high achievers in the workplace. The group most affected by this cause is generally the elderly, the disabled, the feeble-minded, single mothers, and many minority figures.

Within the United States over the last few years, the group which makes up the largest part of the poverty -stricken population are single mothers and their children. These broken families consist of about one-third of all poor people. This is due to the fact that, historically speaking, women generally earn less than men, and single women also have a difficult time caring for their children while trying to remain the major bread-winner for their family. Other groups which quite often represent a great portion of people below the poverty line are the disabled and dependents, who have trouble finding and keeping jobs, very large families, in which there are too many mouths to feed, and families in which the head is either unemployed or works for a very low annual income. Although there have been recent progressive movements in minority groups many minorities are still disproportionately represented below the poverty line.

Another cause of poverty is the lack of educational opportunity in many countries. For instance, in the United States, a much greater percentage of blacks than of whites are poor today, mainly because they have had inferior schooling. It was not until the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional in 1954 that black children were allowed to attend the same schools as white children, and thus receive the same caliber education. Even now, however, when segregated schools have been abolished, many black students are still unable to receive as good an education as man white children because of demographics. While education problems are prominent in the U.S., they hold true in other countries as well. In many third world countries, children are doomed from birth to live a life of poverty because a proper education is not readily available to them.

Much of the world's poverty problems are due to a low level of economic development. Poverty is often frenzied in highly populated areas, such as China and India, often where widespread unemployment for many people can create poverty. This even begins to be a problem in economically developed countries. Drastic changes in a country's economy, as in The Great Depression of the 1930's, can leave a county overridden with poverty. Less severe economic contractions, such as recessions, can cause less drastic increases in the poverty rate.

The effects of poverty are result in tens of thousands of people in the world dying each year from starvation and malnutrition. In the United States, the effects of poverty, while not as dramatic, are just as real. Infant mortality rates are higher and life expectancy lower among the poor. Poverty also seems to breed crime, as people form environments dominated by poverty are more likely to commit crimes and be punished. Social problems such as mental illness and alcoholism also run rampant among the poor, in part because they are also causes of poverty. In the end, poverty breeds more poverty, creating a vicious cycle for the poor of the world.

While poverty is often hidden behind closed doors and the eyes and ears of people throughout the world are protected, it is a very serious problem that has effected people for centuries. Welfare programs and other social programs to help the poor have been instituted in some countries, but others are virtually helpless. It is hoped by reading the following articles that you will have a greater awareness of the conditions which many people live in, and a sense of appreciation for what you have.