Why the World Still Goes Hungry

ED) There are various reasons for poverty around the world.

    October 17th is the UN-designated “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty”. It memorializes the victims of poverty, violence, and starvation and commemorates worldwide for poverty relief and human rights growth. To mark the day, let us look at countries suffering from poverty for various reasons.

    Italy, which is a member of the G7, has nearly 4.8 million absolute poverty population which was 8% of the total population in 2019. The figure is still high, with the number of poor people nearly tripling from just 1.7 million in 2008. As for Italy's poverty rate, experts point to regional economic gaps. Italy's regional gap appears to be serious, with the northern part of the country, where heavy industries are closely linked around Milan, Genoa, and Turin, and the southern part of the country, which is centered on agriculture and tourism, have almost double GDP gap per capita. The per capita income gap between the wealthiest Lombardia in the north and Sicily in the south, is almost 2.1 times. Data from Italy's National Statistical Office, "2019 Gross Domestic Product and Economic Growth," showed that the southern region had a record of negative GDP growth for the seventh consecutive years. Also, unemployment in the northern part of the country was 10 percent, while unemployment in the southern part of the country fluctuated between 40 percent and 50 percent. According to a survey from the same ministry, the gross domestic product in the southern metropolis of Naples is lower than that of Imperia, the region with the lowest per capita GDP in the northern part of the country. The economic gap is structured into social discrimination, leading to social conflicts. (Expectation Interview) Kim Si-Hong (Prof. of Depart. of Italian Language at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies), "In other countries, the income gap is usually higher in urban areas, lower in rural areas, or higher in resource-producing areas, but Italy is higher in northern regions and lower in southern regions, regardless of whether they are just cities or rural areas. It's been a long time since the past, and as these gaps gathered, social conflicts have arisen”

United States, known as the No. 1 economy country, is suffering from poverty. In the U.S., a total of 40 million people was found to be suffering from poverty. The United States has the highest poverty rate among developed countries, with its poverty rate standing at 17.1 percent in the mid-2000s, about three times higher than Sweden's and 1.5 times higher than the OECD average of 10.6 percent. Experts cited the shift in industrial structure as a major reason for this. A notable feature of the change in the U.S. industry's structure of jobs from 1979 to 2007 is a sharp decline in manufacturing jobs (21.6 percent in 1979 to 10.1 percent in 2007). Besides, the growth of other service sector jobs, including personal services (29 percent in 1979 and 40.1 percent in 2007) is also notable. This job growth pattern negatively affected income and employment opportunities linked to jobs. While the proportion of jobs in the relatively high-paying information industry, finance, insurance, real state, and government sectors remained stagnant, the proportion of jobs in manufacturing and wholesale industries receiving median income decreased, and the balance of other services receiving low income increased sharply. Also, the number of manufacturing and wholesale businesses for those who did not attend college but receive median income has decreased, reducing the high-quality job opportunity structure for the lower-educated class.

Poverty is also appearing in South American countries. Argentina's poverty rate stands at 35.4 percent, with 15 million people suffering from poverty as of 2019. This is an increase of 8 percentage points compared to 2018 and an increase of 3.4 million people in poverty. It even turned out that 52.6 percent, or more than half, of children under the age of 14, were struggling from poverty. The U.N. said the reality that one in three people is in poverty is a problem for the Argentine government to solve. Until the early 20th century, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world, and there was a time when per capita GDP was the highest in the world. However, the nation's economy has begun to deteriorate due to the military regime, which has continued to this day. The main cause of the worsening economy of the military regime is the use of the national budget as a private slush fund of the president. In addition, most of the companies in the country were disposed of at a bargain price to foreign countries and attracted foreign capital indiscriminately. During the military regime, one of the presidents, Jorhel Videli, issued government bonds excessively and used them for his fortune, resulting in entrepreneurs deprive of their jobs. Due to these events, Argentina's GDP for 2020 is 67th in the world, which is also lower than in Uruguay and Mexico.

Amnesty International, NGO claims that "We have shown a trend of increasing poverty rates internationally in recent years, with no meaning in designating International Poverty Day. Countries are showing high poverty rates for various reasons, which is demanding such international aids. Through this meaningful day, institutional security and welfare should be implemented to reduce poverty rates worldwide.”

By Yoo Chan-Ju, Reporter

ychanjoo@pusan.ac.kr