Poverty Effects

Poverty reflects not only lack of material assets, but also a lack of social capital—a sense of belonging, cultural identity, respect, dignity, and access to information and education. Of approximately 2.2 billion children in the world, one billion live in poverty. Poverty among children is not confined to children in the developing world; some economically advanced countries also have high numbers of poor children. Among economically advanced countries, the United has the second highest percentage of children (22% of all children and 25% of children under 6 are poor; Romania has the highest percentage). Regardless of geography, the effects of poverty generally remain the same: higher mortality rates and detrimental child outcomes. Yet children do not necessarily experience the effects of poverty in the same ...