Section 1: Causes Of Poverty Flashcards
What are the causes of poverty in Africa?
Bad governance
Armed conflict
Health barriers
Education barriers
Debt
Unfair Trade
What type of factors have the biggest impact?
Political (bad governance and armed conflict)
Bad Governance Explain
taxes aren’t collected
Bad Governance Example
For example, Robert Mugabe’s government’s mis-management of the economy led to high inflation, so people’s savings became worthless.
Armed conflict explain
It leads to food shortages and destroys any prospect of social or economic development.
Armed conflict example
For example, the civil war in Somalia caused hundreds of thousands of people to become refugees, making levels of poverty even worse.
Health issues explain
Health issues means that a country will suffer from outbreaks of dangerous diseases like Malaria and HIV/AIDS and will not have the proper funding and medical aid to control the diseases.
Health issues example
For example, in Liberia, there are estimated to be around 10 doctors per million people, to put this in perspective there are around 3000 doctors per million people in the UK.
Access to education explain
Access to education means that many African children can’t afford to go to school and don’t attain adequate primary education.
Access to education example
For example, in Chad the dropout rate is 72%.
Poor infrastructure explain
Poor infrastructure means that a country’s infrastructure is outdated and doesn’t meet adequate standards for use. Poor infrastructure can include poor roads, schools, phone lines, power generators and wifi.
Poor infrastructure example
For example, Tanzania has only 25% internet access unlike 89% in America.
Debt explain
Debt means that a country is unable to put it’s money towards the improvement of its facilities as it owes money to another country/person/organisation.
Debt example
For example, the debt in Sub-Saharan Africa reached a record $702 billion in 2020.
