Why Do Children Live In Poverty?

Poverty as a whole is a worldwide problem and in today’s society and their a many people who live way below their means, some families live off of as little as $2 a day (Stowe,Stephens 449). These people are considered poor or living in poverty. The United Nations states that “Overall poverty has various manifestations, including lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods, hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education and other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments; and social discrimination and exclusion” (qtd. in Bryant, Raphael 5). Living in poverty directly affects children's education and ability to learn to be successful in life, while also leaving a deviating impact on their health. Children who live in poverty generally perform poorly in school with lower test scores and lower educational attainment. The longer children live in poverty the more they lack in their

A study performed by doctors Nicole Hair, Jamie Hanson, Barbara Wolfe showed that specific brain structures tied to processes critical for learning and educational functioning are vulnerable to the environmental circumstances of poverty, such as stress, limited stimulation, and nutrition (Hair et al.828). This means children’s academic success is being reduced at very early ages due to their living conditions. Brain development is very important at younger ages, and the stress from poverty is slowing this important process down for many children in todays world. This is not only effecting children but also the nations future, for children are the worlds future. As the study suggested, if these children growing up in poverty have reduced brain development, they could end up stuck in poverty generation after generation with no way