Poverty in Asia
Relative poverty is a case whereby people have fewer resources compared to others in the society, absolute poverty is where by people earn or spend less than one US dollar every day and voluntary poverty is the case where people have all the resources necessary, but failure to work lead to poverty (Geyndt, 1996). In Asia, majorities live in absolute poverty and that is why this paper shall major on the absolute poverty. The paper shall discuss the extent of poverty in the continent and the policies that governments have put in place to alleviate the problem as well as the solution that is most effective to the problem.
Background Information
Poverty in Asia has persisted for a very long time. In the year 1990, Asia was recorded to have a population of 2.8 billion which was about 55 of the worlds population, and about one third of the population was recorded to be living in absolute poverty (Geyndt, 1996). Absolute poverty means those who are earning less than one US dollar per day. Geydnt (1996) continues to note that 80 of these populations who live in absolute poverty live in the rural areas. However, women are more affected by the problem of poverty than men as is the case in other parts of the world where women are the victims of many problems in the society.
Poverty in Asia is such a great problem as studies have revealed that the largest percentages of the worlds poorest population live in this continent and most of the countries in Asia are developing countries. Countries like Cambodia, East Timor, Bhutan, Nepal, Burma, Mongolia, North Korea, Afghanistan and Pakistan are among the poor countries in the Asian continent and to some extent in the world. To be able to understand better it is important to look at the state of poverty in some Asian countries.
Poverty in Afghanistan
Afghanistan has been ranked to be among the poorest countries in the world. Studies reveal that it has been actually ranked 169th out of 174 in the Human Development Index (World Bank, 2005). History records that the country has been always poor and even the socio economic developments that have taken place have not made any significant change. Most of the population that is poor lives in the rural areas as it is the case with other poor counties in the world. There are many factors that have led to this state of poverty.
According to a World Bank report, the country has been faced with a lot of conflicts, serious earth quakes for the last two decades (2005). Between the year 1999 and year 2001 there was a draught that caused adverse effects to the already poor citizens. After the state collapsed, many citizens especially the poor sought refuge elsewhere while the rest became internally displaced persons. The infrastructure was also destroyed and the peoples resources were destroyed especially in the rural areas. The conflict also affected the social amenities like schools and hospitals. Women were more so affected and the girls were not even allowed to attend school.
Like it is the case in many Asian countries, the impact of this poverty had great effects on the population. Infant and maternal mortality rate rose and in particular this country had the highest rates in the world. Malnutrition rate among the children rose and about 50 of all the under five were malnourished (World Bank, 2005). Further studies of the same reveal that the life expectancy went down. All of the above can be termed to be some of the indicators of poverty.
The government developed some policies that helped to recover the economy. Due to the fact that agriculture contributes greatly to the economy, the government started providing farm inputs to the farmers and this contributed greatly to the growth of the economy. The refugees came back and this increased the human resources. The internally displaced persons went back to their homes and also the government reconstructed the public utilities that had been destroyed. The government developed macro economic polices which helped to keep the inflation under control. Although all these policies have not helped to completely alleviate poverty they have made a great impact.
Poverty in Pakistan
According to the Asian Development Bank (2002), about 32 of the total population in Pakistan was among the poor in the year 1999. Most of the poor people live in the rural areas as it is the case in other countries. The slow economic growth has been recorded to be the main cause of the ever increasing poverty. The dominant economic activity in the rural areas is agriculture and because it has been on the decline, that accounts for the majority rural poor. Although studies have not been done to indicate how poverty affects male and females, women may be affected more because it has always been hard for them to access the labor market.
According to the Asian Development Bank (2002), there are some factors that increase poverty vulnerability in the region. One of the most distinct characteristics is lack of education. The same studies reveal that the poor are always the illiterate. In addition, the poor families have more children than the non poor families. Moreover, the poor households are headed mostly by aged persons who cannot be able to provide adequately for the family. Consequently, these poor families do no afford to educate their children and the cycle of poverty remains in the family.
Although there are many causes of poverty in the country, the Asian Development Bank, (2002) argues that, the poor governance is the main cause, and this applies to other Asian countries. Poor governance reduces the investment rates in any country due to the poor provision of social amenities. In cases where the citizens lack confidence in their government as well as in other public institutions, law and order is interfered with creating an environment which is not favorable for economic growth. Poor economic growth has also been prevalent in the last decade.
Unequal distribution of resources causes some people to remain poor for a very long time. Finally, the environmental factors have adverse effects. Asian Development Bank (2002) records that water borne diseases have been on the increase and about 47 of the rural population and 12 of the urban population do not have access to pure drinking water. Further studies reveal that due to diseases, people who are already poor use the little they have on treatment.
To alleviate this problem of poverty, the Pakistan government has put in some measures in place. All these measures are aimed at improving the living standards of the citizens. This is done to improve the services in the public institutions as well as other service delivery institutions. The government has also been trying to create more employment opportunities. It has introduced a devolution plan that allows the local government to provide services to the poor people. This ensures proper service delivery and equal distribution of resources. The non-governmental organizations and other Christian Based Organizations are on the front line in the fight against poverty. Although some organizations are purely welfare, some provide micro finance services that are desperately needed by the small entrepreneurs. The private sector has also been playing a great role in provision of services like education and health care services (Asian Development Bank, 2002)
Causes of Poverty in Asia
Poor Governance
There are many factors that have led to the ever increasing poverty in Asia. One of the most important factors that have prevailed in most countries is poor governance. This is clearly indicated in the Afghanistan and Pakistan cases above, and is the same in other counties in Asia. Poor governance can result to conflicts and civil war. Consequently, conflicts and wars results to destruction of the infrastructure as well as people. Other countries cannot also dare to invest in countries which are politically unstable and in turn this affects the economy of the country negatively.
Political instability has been persistent in many Asian countries.
Poor government policies are as a result of poor governance. Such policies do not encourage any economic growth and economic growth is a determinant factor in development. This is clearly demonstrated in countries like Afghanistan which suffered greatly after the collapsing of its government. The collapse of the Afghan government led to the destruction and a reduction of human resources especially when people died and others moved to other countries. The effect of any civil war or any type of war cannot be underestimated. Moreover, keeps off foreign investors leading to slow or even a negative economic growth.
Environmental Factors
Environmental factors have played a great role in increasing poverty in Asia. Environmental factors are diverse but almost all of them have contributed to poverty a number of countries. The persistent draughts which usually cause famine have made a major contribution in aggravating poverty .The draught that affected Afghanistan was a major cause of its poor status. Most of these Asian countries depend on agriculture and in case of draught the agricultural sector is greatly affected. Countries like Pakistan which also depend on agriculture are bound to suffer in case of any draught. Environmental degradation can also lead to the outbreak of diseases. Lack of pure drinking water leads to out break of diseases which reduces the productivity of the population. In addition, the governments as well as the citizens spend a lot of the income on medicine and this only aggravates the problem of poverty.
Government Policies on Dealing with Poverty
Improving the Economic Growth
Improving the economic growth has been the main target in alleviating poverty. Studies reveal that over the last three decades, improving the economic growth has contributed greatly to the reduction of poverty. This has been achieved by putting in place sound macro economic policies that control the level of inflation. This policy achieved tremendous benefits in Afghanistan when it was put in place because it encouraged the growth of the economy. To ensure that the growth benefits the poor, other policies are put in place like the adequate and equitable taxation system. Most governments have been putting a lot of effort in the provision of infrastructure that targets the needs of the poor. However, for such a policy to be effective the needs of the poor have to be considered failure to which policies may end up only benefiting those people who are well up and this may not actually solve the problem.
Agricultural Policies
Since agriculture contributes more to the growth of the economy, then, most of the policies are geared towards improving the production in the agricultural sector. One of the policies in this area is to improve access to credit, market, and inputs. To attain this, government controls the price of the farm inputs as well as giving credit to farmers so as to boost the production. Some governments have been privatizing parastatal bodies so as to improve the market of the agricultural produce. However, studies of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (1993) indicate that this has not always produced the desirable results because it only tends to favor the large scale entrepreneurs. This can be attributed to the fact that there has always been limited access to credit, and interest rates have been high. As a result, the poor can not benefit since they mainly engage in small scale farming.
Social Development Policies
After realizing that economic growth alone cannot alleviate poverty, most governments have came up with policies to target the social and economic growth. Such policies aim at providing affordable services to the poor in the society like education and health care. This is being achieved by allocating more money to social services and also creation of favorable conditions that enable the poor to participate in the economic activities. Studies of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (1993) reveals that, a country like Sri Lanka and has been able to put this in to practice.
Effective Solutions to the Problem of Poverty
Increasing Productivity
Since one of the causes of poverty is low productivity, then, all interventions should be geared towards increasing productivity and more so the productivity of the poor. To increase human productivity, the poor should be helped to access land and also credit as well as the other factors of production. Women should also be given opportunities so as to access the labor market as well as contribute to the economic activities because in most Asian countries women are not given equal opportunities as men. The government should also support programs that aim at reducing the number of children that live in poverty. The poor countries should also invest more with programs that equip people with more skills through education and training. Trained people are always more productive. To put more emphasis on the need for education, Studies of Asian Development Bank (2002) shows that in Pakistan the majority of the poor are those that are uneducated meaning that poverty and education are related.
Reducing Vulnerability
Draught and outbreak of diseases have played a great role in increasing poverty. Since most of these are natural disasters which cannot be prevented or predicted, it is imperative for these countries to reduce the vulnerability of the people. The government should have programs put in place which can ensure that the poor receive the necessary attention when such disasters occur. There should be well established programs that can provide food aids and any other humanitarian support in case of a famine or draught. The poor should also be empowered to reduce their own vulnerability.
Accountability
The already existing NGOs and government programs can help to some extent in alleviating poverty if only they became more accountable to the poor. In most cases, the poor do not have any power to fight for their rights or to influence the decision making process. If only these people can be empowered to be in a position to fight for their rights, then they can be in a position to benefit more from what is already being offered.
It is evident that poverty is a major development problem in Asia. Most poor countries in Asia experience pervasive poverty i.e. poverty which has persisted for a very long time. According to this research paper, it can be concluded that one of the major causes of poverty is the poor government policies which take into account the interests of the poor. Other factors which have been highlighted include environmental factors, social economic factors among others. To reduce poverty, the already existing policies should be reevaluated so as to include the interests of the poor. Since studies have revealed that 70 of the poor are women, then the programs and policies should be put in place to include them in the development projects (Asian Development Bank, 2002). However, this problem is most likely going to prevail unless necessary and appropriate interventions are put in place.
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