Poverty is an issue that has always been prevalent in our world. There are different levels of poverty throughout the world, relative, absolute and extreme poverty. Relative poverty mainly measures poverty levels in the United States and is determined by the yearly income for a family of four that is necessary to maintain a suitable standard of living which is about $21,203 a year. World poverty is measured in absolute poverty which is when a person lives on less than a $1 a day and extreme poverty is when a person lives on $275 a year which is less than 75 cents per day which is normally seen in developing countries (Anders & Taylor, 2011). I chose this topic to particularly spread awareness that poverty doesn't just happen in third world countries but in every country including the United States. 12.5% of Americans live in poverty which is a shocking statistic considering the technology and advancements we have. Poverty is a continuing problem and is happening all around us whether we choose to believe it or not. 
I thought that Dylan Watts had a great discussion post about world poverty and its causes to why global poverty is such a prevalent problem throughout the world. He really helps with putting the numbers in black and white, was straight forward and the the amount of people in the world that are considered to be living in poverty is shocking! "According to the United Nations', the worlds poor, or those who live in absolute poverty, are those who's consumption falls below $1 per day. This amounts to around 1 billion people (or 1/5 or the worlds population). Another 1.5 billion people fall into a category called the global underclass. These individuals are living off only 1-2$ per day. If you combine these two groups, a total of 2.5 billion people, or approximately 40% of the worlds population lives in poverty. Sadly, many of the individuals who fall into the category of poverty are women and children. According to the book, "There is no country in the world in which women are treated as well as men."
There are many causes of global poverty and it varies across the globe. It
is not necessarily caused by rapid population growth or people being lazy, but
rather a mix of many causes. Some of the main causes of poverty include; high
fertility rates, uneven economic growth/changes in the worlds economic
system, industry relocation, an increased dependence on technology, automation,
lack of natural resources, lack of education, disease, and warfare. There are
many causes of poverty. As poverty declines in some areas, it increases in
others. It is almost easier to recognize factors that do not cause poverty" (Watts, 2012).
The following article is a great article to read as it explains how the poverty line is determined (Ruoff,
2009)
This is another great article that talks about poverty on a whole other level (Forster
& Mir d'Ercole,
2005). It talks about how people from around the world are victim to poverty. It addresses problems and different ways we can overcome poverty.
This is a great video that shows all of whom poverty affects. It shows different ways poverty affects families, race, society and country. An eye opening video you might just figure out you know someone who is in poverty (Jenna,
2011).
The following link is a great website about poverty. It breaks down poverty brilliantly by its definition, country, city, race, and gender. It also provides many useful charts and graphs for a more visual perspective (Shah
, 2011)
This next link is a great website about poverty in America. The majority of Americans are naive and think only poverty happens in developing countries when that is not the case. This website has some astonishing facts and statistics as to why poverty is taking place in America ("Poverty
in america:," 2011)
This recent news article is about a new census that indicates higher poverty rate in the U.S. It has facts about this years poverty levels and why it is growing higher ("New
census calculation," 2012)
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