Poverty

Poverty can simply be described as a state of deprivation of resources and opportunities necessary for one to live a healthy and productive life. There are many measures that can be used to quantify as well as describe poverty. In some countries, people earning or living below a given minimum income can be considered to be poor.  In most cases, a county’s level of income is not directly related to the level of income of each individual in the country. There are countries with extremely high Gross Domestic Product but with a certain percentage of the population living below the poverty line.  This means that income per capita is not influenced solely by a country's income but also by the distribution.

Poverty in America is estimated to have afflicted around forty six million according to the recent survey. This was an increase from around forty million around six years ago, and it is the greatest one in the recent past. A research on poverty is essential because it can enable one to understand how poverty can creep in even the richest nations in the globe. A lot of people in the past and the present times have not been able to delink the development of a country and eradication of poverty. During the time of the Great Depression, everyone thought that general improvements in the economy meant better living standard. During the first part of twenty first century, many middle class families had to deal with reduced incomes and inflation. In order to eradicate poverty, every citizen and every family need to understand that everyone should  be involved in wealth creation, as well as other practices that lead to personal financial reliance than wait for the federal government to do it.

According to (Bruton, 2009), a research was conducted to find the extent of poverty in the American population. In that research, poverty got termed as an issue of national concern in the United States in 2009 when one out of ten families were faced with poverty according to the United States census bureau.

On the other hand, according to (Rynell, 2010), a research was conducted on the relationship between poverty and population demographics. The findings of the research revealed that women were more probable to earn less income compared to men. Families headed by women were more susceptible poverty if other factors were held constant.

According to (Weber, 2002), Despite the fact that poverty can be found in both rural and urban populations, poverty levels are higher in non-metropolitan as compared to metropolitan areas. Bruce Weber was a researcher in the department of Agricultural and Resource Economics in Oregon State University, and he conducted research to evaluate poverty in urban and rural areas. His findings revealed that people in rural areas are more affected by poverty compared to people living in urban areas.

According to my own perception it is true that poverty levels are higher in rural areas of America that in urban areas. This is because many people who live in urban areas are working class unlike people who live in rural areas where most of them are unemployed. Additionally, families headed by women are more prone to poverty compared to families managed by men, this is because the number of men employed is greater than women, and these subject women to poverty compared to their male counterpart.

My main purpose is to find the cause, distribution in the population, and the effects of poverty in apparently affluent society. First, I would refer to information from the existing sources such as the United States census bureau and get the figures such as the population living under the poverty line, their distribution across regions, races, age, and gender. Then, I would find how this has affected their livelihood compared to the rest of the population.

Secondly, I would administer questionnaires in the affected population trying to know from them the cause of poverty, reasons for its distribution and its effects on housing, health care, education as well as provision off other essential services. I would also seek to know from them the possible remedy.

In conclusion, in order to eradicate poverty in the society, States and National governments must ensure that there is an equitable distribution of resource of national resources. Additionally, Governments should endeavor to close the gap between the rich and the poor in the society. This can be accomplished by establishing effective mechanisms that ensure that all people have equal access to the countries national resources. Finally, governments should create employment opportunities so as to improve people's standards of living in the society. This will play an extremely vital role in eradication of poverty, and improve the living standards of people in the society.