Poverty is a phenomenon that has lived with humanity till today‘s globalized society. It is not strange to see poor people in the most advanced countries and so this begs the question, why are there poor people in the world while the rich meddle in their wealth.
Before we delve into the subject matter, we need to know what poverty is. Poverty is defined as a lack of sufficient material possessions or income to meet one’s basic needs. Poverty can be defined as a combination of social, economic, and political factors. Income is compared to the amount required to cover basic personal requirements such as food, clothes, and shelter under absolute poverty
Poverty in Ghana can be said to be politically, culturally, and religiously driven. At least 45 percent of the population in Ghana lives on less than $1.25 a day which makes the number of people to be automatically be qualified as poor.
Causes Of Poverty
- Lack of education and illiteracy: inability to have access to proper education breeds nothing but poverty
- Poor environment: if you grow up in a poor environment and you don’t work hard, the chances of you becoming poor to reflect your surroundings is very high.
- Poor leadership and governance: the economic policies the governments sets in place can make the citizens of a nation strive or prosper.
- Greed and selfishness: selfishness and greed inhibits the growth of the nation and it helps in breeding poverty.
- Bribery and corruption: one of the worst cankers that Ghana is facing is bribery and before we deal with it, there is no way we are going to progress.
- Poor healthcare : if you have good healthcare, you think less about some problems and the absence of proper healthcare exacerbates poverty.
- Low investment in the agricultural sector: the agricultural sector is known as the food basket of the nation so the right investment in that sector fights poverty.
- Unemployment: the devil finds work for the idle hands so staying at home and not working has serious implications on the financial life of an individual.