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Blog Action Day: Alarming Poverty Statistics |
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Top 5 Alarming World Poverty Statistics:
5. More than 800 million people suffer from malnutrition.
4. The United States spends 0.16% of its budget on aid to poor countries, the second lowest percentage among all developed countries.
3. A worker in Bangladesh making garments for Disney would have to work 210 years in order to earn what Disney’s CEO gets paid in one hour.
2. 35,000 children a day die from diseases related to malnutrition, or 1 every 2 seconds.
1. Over three billion people (roughly half the world’s population) live on less than two dollars a day.
Top 5 Alarming United States Poverty Statistics:
5. In 1968, the minimum wage was 86% of the living wage. By 1998, that figure had fallen to 64%.
4. On any given night, 750,000 Americans do not have shelter, or 1 in 400.
3. 40 million Americans do not have medical insurance, 0r 1 in 8.
2. 10 million Americans go hungry each day, 40% of them children.
1. In 1996, one in four Americans under 18 was living in poverty.
Top 10 Alarming United States Wealth Statistics:
10. Since 1950, Americans have used up more resources than everyone who ever lived on earth before 1950.
9. In 2000, CEO’s earned 475 times what their average workers made.
8. 57% of those listed on the 1997 Forbes 400 started life as millionaires.
7. Americans spend more on trash bags than 90 other countries spend on everything.
6. 27% of people earning over $100,000 agree that “I cannot afford to buy everything I really need.”
5. On 15% of Americans report that they would be satisfied with a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.
4. The Unites States comprises 5% of the world’s population, yet accounts for 40% of its gasoline consumption.
3. The average size of a new home today is double what it was in the 1950’s.
2. The average American consumes 5 times more than a Mexican, 10 times more than a Chinese person, and 30 times more than someone from India.
1. If everyone in the world consumed at the same rate as Americans do, we would need six planet earths to meet the demand for resources.
(originally posted at Discipline for Justice)
Where did these stats actually come from? I’d love to be able to use them, but I need to be able to cite.
I compiled them a few months back while writing an article for my own blog, Discipline for Justice. Unfortunately, i did not cite my sources at that time. I know that most of them came from the following three books:
“Affluenza” by John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor
“Economic Apartheid in Amercia” by Chuck Collins and Felice Yeskel
“The Global Citizen’s Handbook” by The World Bank
There is a different standard of acceptence of what it means to be poor in the US. Being that I lived in Europe for quite some time there is absolutely no comparison of the European standard of living to our own. People accept hardship and risk a lot more readily that the generations of American born during and after the Post War Industrial Boom which created a virtual age of affluence in America. A telling statistic in here is 27% of Americans making over 100,000 say they can get everything they need. All they need is food, water, shelter so it is all a matter of perception in America about what needs and wants are. Couple that with only 15% of Americans would be happy with a middle class lifestyle is exactly what I mean. 90% of Europeans would be more than satisfied with what is considered an American middle class lifestyle. A recommend some material and research compiled by Walter E Williams. He makes an excellent point that is emperically supportable. The poverty line in the US right now is about $20,000 solely because we have a high median income and right now only about 11% of the population is below this line. Not only do these people still have adequate housing with electricty, clean water, plumbing, major appliances. Over 75% of all Americans own cell phones and computers. Every house has a TV for the most part, things that are not at all needs but desires. The most interesting stat he points out is that demographically speaking, if you meet 4 criteria in this country then poverty is almost non-existent. 1. Graduate High School 2. Work any job 3. Do not have children until after marriage 4. Do not be involved in crime. People who meet these 4 simple criteria, less than 3% fall below the poverty line. If you substitue High School Education for College Education, only a fraction of a percent of people fall below the poverty line. Poverty in America is merely a matter of insane desires and perceptions that the rest of the world does not share.
Poverty for the most part in the USA is because some people think the governments job is to take care of them and have been raised in a culture like that since the mid 1960’s.Frankly there is very little excuse for a healthy american teen or adult not to get a good education and get a job.This culture of “where’s mine” without earning it is killing this country.Work hard and get ahead has never “not worked” since the civil rights movement succeeded.Some people are just lazy and expect those of us who do work to take care of them as they think it’s “their right”,which of course couldn’t be further from the truth.
To say that everyone who works hard succeeds is just plain wrong. There are many, many people who work hard and do everything right, but for various reasons, they end up in a jam. Sure, some people don’t succeed because they are lazy. But open your eyes, please, and realize that you can’t paint all of the poor and struggling people in the world with this broad brush.
Beantrader wasn’t refering to everyone, he was refering to some. Your comment about “many, many people who work hard and do everything right, but for various reasons, they end up in a jam.” is utter bull. Usually the people who gets into a jam are the ones who spend more than they make.. so obviously they’re not doing everything right. I bet I can name more people who deserve to be poor because of their foolish spending/saving habits than you can about people ending up in a jam due to unforseen circumstances.
Also, about the CEO salaries, if you believe that getting paid 475 times more than their average employee is excess then what do you think would be a fair amount? It’s obvious that you find this amount problematic.. so why not input your solution to it?
Beantrader said, “Work and get ahead has never not worked since the civil rights movement.” Sounds like everyone to me.
I also believe in forgiveness and second chances.
Humans aren’t perfect - most people do some smart things *and* some dumb things - sometimes you do a dumb thing at just the right time - and you lose your career, or your savings, or your home. Sometimes good people have bad habits that they need to unlearn, or just need to learn new ones. That’s why we want to have ’safety nets’, to give them a chance to get back on their feet. You can’t blame the safety nets for the culture, for the people who abuse them - lack of proper education from the outset seems to be a proper place for the blame. We need to learn from the beginning to value ourselves, to care for and nurture our assets, to be responsible. It’s not happening the way it needs to.
I am just curious. Can you please back up the statements you made so far with some facts? Some comparative data between 60s and today would help me understand it better. Like percentage of people living on welfare, percentage of the annual budget spent on welfare etc.
I can tell you that poverty has been cut in half since the Great Society programs of the 1960’s were implememnted. Poverty among the elderly has been reduced even more than that, thanks to Social Security.
I saw this post on a link from the blog of a friend. My heart truly goes out to those who are struggling. However, I often find most of these stats a bit mis-leading and fairly naive.
I have to agree mostly with BEANTRADER on this one, especially when the USA poverty statistics are cited. I have seen the perspective of the “poor” (both working and not) in America from the social work angle and the sales angle. There is an incredible sense of entitlement that our culture of dependency has created. Like because we live in America, we are “owed” a good life, “deserve” financial security, live the “champagne lifestyle on a beer budget” etc. And when they make horrible decisions it was the politicians/capitalism/Bush/governments fault, yet that same government which caused all the problems will just bail them out.
I helped run some “life-skills” classes for our community support center, working with families who would be numbered among the poor in these stats. We were attempting to teach them about budgets, responsible spending, credit, etc. Here was the case of a family of 5 (two parents, 3 kids under 8 years old). Believe me, this was just a sample of the other familial situations we came across. Keep in mind that these people were really struggling financially:
Starbucks 4x/week (combined for mom and dad) at 8$ per = 32$/wk = 128$ per month (4 weeks)
Dad went out to lunch 2x/wk to McDonalds: 5$ per = 10$/wk = 40$ per month
Comcast High speed cable (who doesn’t need fast internet at home these days?): 38$/mo
DirectTV cable hookup (gotta have cable, right?) 48$/month
Mom and dad work alot and they sometimes have no time to cook, so they go to fast food 2x/week at 25$ = 50$/wk = 200$/month.
We showed these “working poor” that they could very easily change these habits and save 450 $ per month right off the top! Go to the library for internet, skip the cable, buy bulk foods, make freezer meals and foods in a crock pot, get a coffee maker (and use it!!!), etc.
From a sales perspective, you would see all the time people wanting to buy “luxury” items (non-essentials) like they had $$$ when in reality they had no business purchasing what I was selling. Then, they would get somewhat offended at me when I would sabotage my potential sale by making sure to ask them if they could afford it. Unbelievable!
People in America have plenty of $$$, even the poor. The real problem is that people want to live outside of their means, that they are “owed” a good life without making the necessary sacrifices to get there. They want a quick fix, not real solutions. They are too proud or ignorgant to admit that they can’t live like the Jones’. One of the hardest things for me to do some years back when I was out of work with two young kids was to go to the local food bank because we couldn’t afford groceries. But we did it. We stopped going out for food, cut off all non-essentials, etc. We did that until we could afford going to the store and buy bulk foods (beans, grains, etc). You do what you have to do.
Just my 2 cents.
Matt
The moment one says, or thinks, mine, they are on the path to doom. The other path, the one that doesn’t lead to doom, is guided by another question: what can be done to reduce the suffering of my fellow humans?
I can understand your frustration, but not everyone living in poverty expects a hand out. I for one am working a job that barley pays the bills and puts food on the table. I go to work every day to a job I don’t like. I also am taking a few classes at a community college. I know that the way things are going I will never own a home or anything that I can give my kids when I am gone. Oh yeah, did I mention that I also am a single mother of three boys…..and no I’m not on welfare and don’t want a hand out. I just wanted to make a point that not everyone is lazy. Just in case you are wondering what nationality I am, I will tell you, black and white.
/yawn. i worked for chilren international, same stats were used in ad blitzes.
See my response to the first comment.
Previous comment is a response to Arthur’s question below.
These statements are, indeed, alarming. Could you provide the source for each statement?
agitate, educate, and organize.
what we need are general strikes, and eventually overthrow of the damned capitalist system that put us in this mess.
The world needs more people like you.
Here is a new non-profit that is trying to help, I know the pioneer and hope the word spreads.
http://www.onedollarnation.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
a nice write up. I am not surprised to see these stats…yet an eye opener for many….
Beantrader, your interpretation of history is wildly skewed.
Ok,how? Government bent overbackwards to give those who were poor or a minority access to low cost cost student loans to get an education.The welfare culture of this country keeps making excuses instead of getting off their lazy fat a**.
Because of the lazy ones not making the effort to better themselves the tax burden increases on the middle class and make’s getting help harder for those who really need it.
this may go against everything that capitalism stands for, but i personally think that their should be a cap on how much money a person can make, once you’re making let’s say…5 million a year. that should be the maximum amount that anyone should be able to make. CEO’s and what not would still earn the amount that they make now, but they could only keep 5 million a year, the rest could go to fund education, health care programs and whatever else that would benefit mankind as a whole.
Even better would be to develop a cultural climate where excessive wealth is despised. Any kind of legislation limiting income would be very bad idea, but I think intense social pressure would convince most wealthy folks to give away more of their money.
How much does America produce with all that consumption? If America consumes x% of the world’s goods/products/services, how much does America create as a result?
It’s not like America simply consumes. It produces as well.
And as someone else pointed out, if 475x is too much, how much is enough? If you don’t have that figure, then your data is just snarky.
Perhaps 475x is enough for a company that outproduces other countries’ companies. Wealth generation isn’t done simply by wishing, but by doing. Seems that a lot of people are doing a lot in America to produce wealth, and do so because their production is rewarded.
If you would like to see CEO salaries reduced, try starting your own company and scout for a CEO. Offer him/her a salary that’s 1x of a worker’s salary, and see what CEOs you get. Salaries are based on competition. A good CEO can increase the wealth of the company. It would be short-sighted to hire a mediocre CEO to “save” money if the results are a mediocre or even failed company.
Yes, there are exceptions - but they are just that, exceptions. Companies can’t stay in business if they overpay their executive staff - they have to get something for the salaries they pay.
If America is so awful, why are so many people beating down the doors to get there? Workers’ paradises should be where poor people want to go, yet they all seem to want to come to America in spite of the “fact” that America pays its CEOs too much money. How about that?
Beantrader said, %u201CWork and get ahead has never not worked since the civil rights movement.%u201D
I think that’s not quite accurate. I am willing to bet that Mr. Bean here is from a white middle class enviroment where jobs are availible, people have decent homes and discrimination doesn’t affect him.
The truth is that many families live in places where opportunities are scarce and re-location is simply too expensive, where the color of your skin changes people’s perception of you and your work ethic, where parents have to ride buses for hours to get to one, two sometimes three minimum-wage jobs and still can’t afford to feed their kids. I don’t call that laziness.
I aggree that hard work pays off but you have to factor in “society”. That ladder, that pyramid. Some can climb to the top but the top is a lot smaller than the bottom so no, not EVERYONE can make it.
Try telling a starving child that his parent is lazy. Tell a greiving mother that her child died of hunger because she didn’t “work hard enough”.
Go to Ghana and tell a village to step up and get jobs.
Open your eyes Beantrader.
So, by all means, let’s drop billions more into fighting global warming while people shiver and starve today. Let’s focus on TODAY’S problems rather than the problems of the year 2100. Malaria, AIDS, malnutrition, and terrorists are not just going to disappear.
Global warming and energy dependence actually exacerbates poverty in undeveloped countries. Most of the population of countries with large oil reserves do not see any of the profits from drilling, and these underdeveloped countries usually do not have many environmental controls in place, and those that are in place are often ignored or under-enforced. The populations of these countries then find their groundwater and streams polluted, their farming capabilities are diminished, leading to rises in the cost of food, dependence on imports, and finally, malnutrition. In addition, the incidence of disease, chemical poisoning, and cancer rises with exposure to pollution. Not to mention the tribal warfare and ethnic tensions that often accompany oil drilling…
Energy dependence is as exploitative as sweatshop labor. If we in America and other developed countries make alternative energy a priority, oil-rich countries in Africa and the Middle East will have a chance to recover both their environment and stability/
Poor people suck anyway so who cares?
I have tertiary syphilis.