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The Persistence of Poverty
June 21, 2010
Take time to laugh ... it's the music of the soul.
-Anonymous
-Anonymous
I was reviewing UNICEF's 2010 State of the World's Children report in preparing a trend report on the global well being of children for the September/October 2010 issue of Exchange when I noticed a disturbing trend. With all the talk about the benefits of the global economy, one would suspect that resources for children are being lifted worldwide (the “rising tide lifts all boats” theory). However, I was reviewing the gross national income (GNI) per capita (which is an indicator of resources available per person in a country) country by country and discovered these disturbing facts:
- 76% of children under five live in countries where GNI per capita is $8 per day or less
- 52% live in countries where income per individual is $3 or less per day
- 15% live in countries with GNI per capita of $1 or less per day
To put these statistics in perspective, the GNI per capita in the United States is $134 per day. China, with all the stories about its burgeoning entrepreneurial class (pictured in glamorous clothes and hot cars), has a GNI per capita of $8 per day. That means that the layer of well-to-do Chinese is extremely thin and that the vast majority of its 87 million children under five still live in grinding poverty. Likewise, India, home for 127 million children under five, has a GNI per capita of only $3 per day.
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Comments (2)
Displaying All 2 CommentsShishu Vikash Kendra
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
In regarding the report I am sure that utilization of materials in the field of
development of the children is not correct in India . I came to know field workers in the child development do not serve food fully to the children . And the report of the field workers is totally wrong . How can I believe global well
being of the children ?
United States
As in all reports of this nature, one can interpret as one sees fit. The GNI of one country has no bearing on the welfare of its or other countries since it's all relative. The US may show a higher GNI but that does not mean we don't have people living in poverty; it just means we have more wealthy people or few people with a lot of wealth, which, in most cases (again, my interpretation) means more greed, not less poverty. Plus, in citing UNICEF, you've given credence to yet another charity. I no longer donate to charities due to the potential misuse of its donations; I give to individuals where I know the money will go to the source of the problem, not to those wealthy who pocket the money. In short, in reports such as this, heed the source, the messenger, and their intent and look beyond the rhetoric. What has UNICEF done to positively affect the GNI of our country and others?
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