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Causes of
World Disparity
Poverty
• The new poverty line of $1.25 a day was
recently announced by the World Bank (in
2008). For many years before that it had been
$1 a day.
Rich/Poor Gap
Rich/Poor Gap
What does it mean?
- The gap that exists between the rich in a society (the
world) and the poor in a society (the world).
- This is also known as disparity or global inequity.
“The worst form of violence is poverty”. ~ Mahatma Ghandi
Rich/Poor Gap
What does it mean?
• People in poor countries earn less than someone in
Canada for doing the same job? (on average they
make 100 times less than us for the same job)
Imagine someone making 100 times more than
you for doing the same job.
the numbers
you are…
part of the 6% on the planet that owns 60% of the
world’s wealth
part of the 7% on the planet that are educated at the
secondary level
part of the 12% on the planet that owns a computer
part of the 3% on the planet that has internet
connection
Global Inequity – Gap Between
Rich and Poor
• The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million
people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7
richest people combined.
• More than 80 percent of the world’s population
lives in countries where income differentials are
widening.
• The poorest 40 percent of the world’s
population accounts for 5 percent of global
income. The richest 20 percent accounts for
three-quarters of world income.
In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6%
of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%
• World gross domestic product (world population
approximately 6.5 billion) in 2006 was $48.2 trillion
in 2006.
• The world’s wealthiest countries (approximately 1
billion people) accounted for $36.6 trillion dollars
(76%).
• The world’s billionaires — just 497 people
(approximately 0.000008% of the world’s
population) — were worth $3.5 trillion (over 7% of
world GDP).
• Low income countries (2.4 billion people)
accounted for just $1.6 trillion of GDP (3.3%)
• Middle income countries (3 billion people) made
up the rest of GDP at just over $10 trillion (20.7%).
• An analysis of long-term trends shows the
distance between the richest and poorest
countries was about:
• 3 to 1 in 1820
• 11 to 1 in 1913
• 35 to 1 in 1950
• 44 to 1 in 1973
• 72 to 1 in 1992
Energy Poverty
• 1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live
without electricity:
• Breaking that down further:
• Number of people living without electricity (in
millions)
• Asia 706
• Sub-Saharan Africa 547
• East Asia 224
• Other 101
Lack of Investment
• Lack of domestic or
foreign investment
• Why is there little
investment?
• Provide a suitable
climate for
investment…war/confl
ict keeps investors
away
Population Growth
•
•
Developing countries are still
experiencing higher population
growth rates than 1st world
countries
These countries currently struggle
with providing a decent standard
of living to a growing population
(food, water, jobs, health care,
education etc.), so what will they
do if their populations continue to
grow (ex. India 1.1 billion to 1.7
billion by 2050)
•
•
•
•
•
The problem here is that in many poor
countries the majority of the population
are employed in farming, thus
requiring the need for large families. If
the economy were to develop, the
number of people involved in farming
would diminish, and therefore reduce
fertility levels
Governments may take different
approaches to curb population growth
Some countries may choose to focus
on educating its citizens on the
benefits of having smaller families
Some countries may be forced to take
extreme measures and enforce limits
on children such as China
First world countries may be able to
provide some help by providing
aid/assistance for those people in
developing countries who cannot
afford birth control
Disease
• Core countries
disease helps
economy
• Periphery countries,
disease keeps people
in poverty
• Effective and
affordable treatment
of disease would help
a periphery country to
grow
• Where is this
technology
developed, and who
controls the market?
Foreign Debt
•
•
•
Many developing nations are
indebted to 1st world countries
Many countries who are indebted,
can only afford to pay the interest
on the loan, and never really are
able to pay down the principle
loan
If the government is focused on
paying off loans from 1st world
countries, there is little money to
reinvest back into the country to
help them escape the cycles of
poverty (ie. money is leaving the
country vs. staying in the country
and building up their economy)
•
•
•
•
In some cases 1st world nations may
provide full or partial debt forgiveness
Countries may decide to not charge
interest on the loans, therefore
allowing the country to chip away at
paying off the principle
Some debt relief programs, such as
the Debt For Nature program in Brazil,
provide the indebted nations a break in
their loan payments in return for
protecting fragile or important
ecosystems (ex. 20 million dollar
forgiveness for 1000 acres of Amazon
rainforest)
Live 8 concert - promote awareness
of world poverty and pressure
governments to address global poverty
• Live 8 was a string of benefit
concerts that took place on
July 2, 2005, in the G8 states
and in South Africa
• Run in support of the aims of
the UK's Make Poverty
History campaign and the
Global Call for Action Against
Poverty, the shows planned
to pressure world leaders to
drop the debt of the world's
poorest nations, increase
and improve aid, and
negotiate fair trade rules in
the interest of poorer
countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa, the
poorest part of the planet
spends $25,000 per minute on
debt repayment. This is
money that could be spent on
hunger, disease and
education
The South finances Northern
creditors to the tune of about
200 billion dollars per annum
in debt repayments
For every $1 in aid a
developing country receives,
over $25 is spent on debt
repayment.
War
• Wars and civil unrest in some • The need here is to bring
developing nations have been
about economic and
going for decades (Congo,
political stability and end
Sudan, Uganda, Colombia)
these conflicts
• In zones of peace, countries
• United Nations
can focus on economic growth
intervention, cut-off aid?
• In zones of war (much of Africa • Recent example of Syria
and parts of Asia), the current
– Turkey cuts off
leaders focus their time and
electricity, other Arab
money to try and prevent a
nations threaten to pull
coup d’etat (overthrow the
them out of Arab League
gov’t by forces)
• In some cases their citizens
are robbed, raped, tortured,
and starved to keep them from
uprising against the gov’t
Corrupt Leadership
•
•
•
•
Leaders in developing nations
who put their own
economic/political interests ahead
of the people’s needs
To do this they may resort to
tactics such as diverting money to
line their own pockets, stealing
aid that was given by 1st world
countries, starving its citizens to
keep them from a revolt, or
recruiting children to fight for their
cause
Odious debt (debt created by
unscrupulous leaders to meet their
own needs – Mubarak, Ghadaffi
Kleptocracies (leaders steal from
poor, control their people through
poverty/hunger)
• Solutions
• Impose economic sanctions
(cut off trade or aid with that
country)
• Potentially assassinate a
leader – Saddam Hussein
• Try and promote democracy in
that country to help citizens
elect a leader who works in the
people’s best interest vs. their
own best interest (financially
reward a good leader??)
• Arab Uprisings
Trade Inequities
• Simply put, rich countries
trade with other rich
countries
• They do this by placing
higher tariffs on items
from developing nations
vs. G8 partners (free
trade agreements)
• G8 nations subsidize
(give them money)
industries such as with
agriculture to make their
products as cheap or
cheaper than goods from
developing nations
• Need to put in place a
world trade system that
allows developing
countries to participate in
world trade and develop
their economies vs.
relying on aid
Local Control
• Feel that the control of their
country is in the hands of 1st
world countries, corporations
and world organizations such
as the UN, World Bank, IMF,
WTO etc. (these organizations
may provide various forms of
aid - neocolonialism)
• Government corruption also
affects peoples control over
their own affairs
• These sentiments may fuel
resentment towards the
“haves’ and may connect
directly with acts of terrorism
• Use NGO’s to help teach
the citizens how to be
more self-reliant
• Ex. Engineers Without
Borders
• Provide better aid from
first world countries that
allows countries to help
lift themselves out of
poverty
• Getting rid of corrupt
government (Arab Spring
Uprisings – promoting
democracies vs
kleptocracies)
Role of Women
• In some societies,
there are huge
inequalities between
the men and women
• How will a society be
impacted in a society
where women are
expected to stay at
home and raise kids
(a huge chunk of your
society isn’t working)
• Shift cultural attitudes
as to how women are
viewed in a society
• How do you change
attitudes that have
been in place for
centuries?