Hello everyone! Welcome back to another presentation on IN THE WHITE. I hope you all are good and coping well in this time of the Pandemic.

We continue with the Human Rights Series with the second part, in which I will be focusing on Poverty & Global Inequalities.

I know, we have been talking about poverty and inequalities for a long time and undoubtedly the COVID-19 Pandemic has stretched this gap between the rich and the poor even further.

According to the 2022 World Inequality Report, wealth inequality remains at an extreme level in all regions.

The report suggests that Middle East & North African nations such as Iran, Iraq, Israel, Algeria, Egypt, to name a few have been listed as the world’s most unequal region.

Just by looking at the names of these countries, I am not surprised at all to see them makeup the list, given their economic and political situation.

For many of these nations, natural resources like oil exportation plays a major role in the growth of the country’s economy.

While the World Bank forecasts a growth of up to 4.2%, in GDP for MENA countries compared to 2.8 % in 2021. However, this is subject to the Pandemic situation. A poor handling of the crisis could deplete the economy, while a controlled condition would see MENA states reaching its projected target.  

POVERTY

Poverty is another major challenge faced by many people around the globe.

In 2018, four out of five people below the international poverty line lived in rural areas.

Half of the poor are children. Women represent a majority of the poor in most regions and among some age groups. About 70 percent of the global poor aged 15 and older have no schooling or only some basic education.

Almost half of poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa live in just five countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Madagascar.

More than 40 percent of the global poor live in economies affected by fragility, conflict and violence, and that number is expected to rise to 67 percent in the next decade. Those economies have just 10 percent of the world’s population.

Just as things seemed to be slightly improving, the Coronavirus made matters worse by pushing about 100 million more individual into poverty, as a cause of lockdown and unemployment.

This raises a very important question of what do we do now? How do we at least try and reduce poverty?

Well, I believe one thing good about this Pandemic is that, it has enabled every individual to look for potentials within themselves and discover new abilities.

So I feel, one way we can overcome poverty is to encourage people to explore themselves and identify skills such as cooking, mechanical work or do artworks like paintings and drawings.

I have been a fan of good artworks for a long time, and I am sure the world does not have a shortage of good artists either.

All in all, recognizing the talent within oneself, together with a competitive job market can help uplift a country’s economy and reduce poverty rates.

Stronger laws and law monitoring systems are needed in highly politically unstable states to overcome social and political crisis in war like scenarios.

With that being said, I wish to conclude this write-up and hope you found it interesting and informative.

Thank you for reading and enjoy the following video.