Effects Of Poverty

Poverty affects 3 billion people worldwide (Shah). Over two billion people don’t have access to sanitation (Janah). UNICEF estimates that 22,000 children die every day due to poverty (Shah). 121 million children worldwide don’t have access to education (Janah). 1 billion out of 2.2 billion children in the world are in poverty (Shah). That’s every second child. Shah states that one in four people live without electricity. People living in poverty have less access to education and are more likely to commit crime, and their children are less likely to be successful as adults. This creates low social mobility and poor health standards, which lead to more social spending and a financial strain on the economy. In order to solve these overwhelming

For example, a child’s background directly affects how well he or she performs in school. Only 14% of a child’s performance can be attributed to the school itself (Five Effects of Poverty). “According to Department for Education statistics, by the end of primary school, pupils in need of free school meals are estimated to be almost three terms behind their more affluent peers” (Five Effects of Poverty). Children who grow up in poverty are more likely to engage in crime, have poor health and develop mental illness. This creates low social mobility because children raised in poverty are more likely to be poor as adults. Each year, child poverty reduces productivity and economic output by about 1.3 percent of GDP, raises the costs of crime by the same, and raises health expenditures and reduces the value of health by 1.2 percent of GDP (Holzer etc). These figures do not include the costs from poor adults who weren’t poor as children and other costs not associated with low productivity, crime and health. “When adults are unable to meet their full potential in society, they contribute less productively to the economy” (Five Effects of Poverty). In short, if fewer people were in poverty and more were employed, the economy would benefit

Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” which he declared on January 8, 1964. In his 1964 State of the Union Address, Johnson said that "(his) aim is not only to relieve the symptoms of poverty, but to cure it and, above all, to prevent it." The many government that resulted remain one of the biggest attempts ever to resolve this issue, but it is argued whether his efforts were successful. This unconditional war was centered around four government programs: the Social Security Amendments of 1965, the Food Stamp Act of 1964, The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. The Social Security Amendments created Medicaid and Medicare, which alleviate medical expenses for people who can’t afford them, and augment Social Security benefits for retirees, widows, disabled people and college students. The Food Stamp Act reinforced and made permanent the already existing food stamp program. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, which has since been amended into the No Child Left Behind Act, gave funds to schools to help with poor students. The Economic Opportunity Act started the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO), the branch of the White House in charge of carrying out the war on poverty. Before these programs, the government was much less involved in dealing directly with poverty, and since these programs and more have been implemented, studies show that the poverty