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Poverty In The United States Essay

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Nelson Mandela once said “Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings” (BBC). Poverty is an unfortunate living situation that affects a percentage of the population in every country. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, poverty is defined as “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of material possessions.” Poverty is also not having the ability to attain the resources for basic human needs. Third world counties are undeveloped and do not have the ability or resources to take care of their people. Yemen is a very poor third world country. However, there is a large difference between the poverty in Yemen and the poverty in the United States. Yemen is a country in the Middle East that on one side boarders the countries Saudi Arabia and Oman. The other side is surrounded by the Gulf of Aden. In 2013, there were 24.4 million people living in Yemen (The World Bank, np). Their life expectancy was 64, their birth rate was 4.21 per woman …show more content…

The amount of income that must be made to not be considered living in poverty differs from who lives in the house and who is the head of the household. In 2014, a single person living alone will have to make more than $11,670 to not be considered living in poverty (CITE). Every time you add a person to the family or household, the amount of income that needs to be made increases by $4,060 (CITE).
The causes of poverty for the United States can be narrowed down to a couple things. Unemployment can cause poverty because a family is not obtaining enough income to sustain itself. Wage rates and inflation are another cause of poverty. These two work against each other. As inflation increases and the wage rates decrease, there is not enough money to sustain the family. Dependency on government assistance can also cause poverty in the United

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