I&S Exam - Poverty

• Global interactions


  Interactions between different countries and regions around the world
• Factors that contribute to the fairness and development of societies

  • Access to resources
  • Equality of opportunities
• Access to resources and equality of opportunities


  Can help societies to develop to become fairer places
• Global interactions


  Often dependent on the fairness and development of societies
• Consumerism is the constant flow of options for people to spend money on, seen in shopping malls and online
• Wants are the things we might desire to make our life more enjoyable, while needs are the things that are essential to our life
• Examples of needs and wants


  • air to breathe
  • shelter
  • chocolate
  • clothes
  • water
  • access to health care
• Maslow's hierarchy of needs


  A theory that demonstrates what people need to lead a fulfilled life, starting with basic physical needs and moving to more complex needs like belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization
• Many people in the world are unable to meet their needs due to the circumstances and environment they live in
• Poverty


  Being very poor, often referring to a lack of material possessions or money to buy basic necessities, as well as a lack of access to resources, freedoms and services
• Types of poverty


  • Absolute poverty (extreme poverty)
  • Relative poverty
• Characteristics of different types of poverty


  • Educational
  • Economic
  • Social and political
  • Health
  • Safety and security
• Despite being one of the wealthiest nations in the world, the USA has a high number of people living in relative poverty
• In 2015, if a family of four in the USA had an annual income of less than approximately US$23,000 then they were classified as poor and living below the poverty line
• The poverty trap is an economic theory that suggests families can be trapped in poverty for several generations due to a variety of factors
• People can escape poverty


  If they have a job
• Development


  Refers to the wealth of a country (economic development) and the quality of life for people living there (human development)
• Ways to measure economic development


  • Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
  • Gross National Income (GNI)
  • Wealth inequality
  • Unemployment rate
  • Economic growth
• Ways to measure human development

  • Quality of health care
  • Quality of education
  • Life expectancy
  • Gender equality
  • Literacy rate
• Human Development Index (HDI)

  A measure of a combination of economic and human development indicators used by the United Nations
• The resource curse suggests that an abundance of natural resources can actually hold back the development of a country rather than aiding it
• This is explained through countries overly depending on their resources in an uneven manner, or through the exploitation of these resources in an unsustainable way
• Country


  • Temperate climate - never too hot or cold throughout the year
  • Shares borders with other countries that have good levels of development
  • Run by a dictator whose family is the richest in the whole country
  • Has invested a lot of money in education
  • Has vast reserves of natural resources
• Resource curse


  Pattern where an abundance of natural resources can actually hold back the development of a country
• The resource curse has often been linked to the problems associated with development of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa
• If a country is wealthy

  The health of the people living there will improve
• Gross National Happiness


  Measure proposed by the King of Bhutan in 1972 to determine whether a country is developed or not, based on the well-being of people rather than economic wealth
• Fairtrade


  Movement to promote better trading conditions for people in developing countries who may have been exploited by unfair trading regulations
• Benefits of the Fairtrade movement

  • Stable prices and guaranteed premium for coffee producers in Costa Rica
  • Ability to invest in education, environmental protection, infrastructure for cotton farmers in Mali
• Aid refers to the supply of resources to communities in need of help for a range of reasons, including short-term responses to events and long-term development projects