Poverty: Causes Flashcards
What are six points?
Wars Natural Disasters Debt Unfair Trade HIV/AIDS Lack of Education
Wars
Many LEDCs suffer from continual conflicts with different groups trying to gain power
Wars destroy crops, homes, schools, hospitals, lives
Neighbouring countries that may have been developing have a sudden influx of refugees and then become poor again
Corrupt leaders use aid money to pay for weapons and armies — not feeding the people
Natural Disasters
Many LEDCs are situated in areas where natural disasters are more frequent and more severe than anywhere else
An earthquake or a flood can destroy many thousands of homes and the farmland on which the inhabitants depend. Crops will not grow unless people have the wealth to sink wells, install pumps and organise an irrigation system
Debt
Most LEDCs have to borrow money from the banks of developed countries to survive and begin to develop
The banks charge interest and it is difficult to pay back
What is an example of Debt?
In the early seventies Chile borrowed $3.9 billion. By 1982, the country had paid $12.8 billion in interest, but still owed money. This extra $9 billion could have been used to speed up Chile’s development — instead it went to countries that were rich
Unfair Trade
If MEDC farmers produce more crops than are needed they export them at lower prices than the LEDCs cash crops (e.g. tobacco, cotton)
Many people in LEDCs are starving because their land is used to grow cash crops instead of food. Also, rich countries put high tariffs on their crops
HIV/AIDS
Methods of safe sex and drugs to control diseases are too expensive for LEDCs
What is an example of HIV/AIDS?
South Africa has the largest number of people with HIV/AIDS in Africa — estimated that by 2010 one-quarter of all the children in South Africa would have lost their parents
children have no money, cannot get an education = poorer
Lack of Education
In poor countries everyone in the family must work or gather food. Children cannot get an education as the families cannot pay and the children must work
It is difficult to get out of poverty without education
What is an example of Lack of Education?
Uneducated African women are twice as likely to contract AIDS
Meanwhile, the children of African women with at least five years of schooling have a 40 percent higher chance of survival
