Poverty can put people at high risk of contracting diseases. Indeed, poor communities, households, and individuals are at increased risk for mental illness, chronic disease, higher mortality, and lower life expectancy. Children make up the largest age group among those experiencing poverty. Studies show that poverty can lead to low birth weight, which is a source of poor health and stunted growth in children. It can also impede crucial brain development during the first year of a baby’s life, preventing the development of foundational skills essential for learning later skills such as literacy, numeracy, and problem-solving abilities.
People who suffer from severe poverty and are unable to make ends meet are generally marginalized, neglected, discriminated against, exploited, enslaved, disempowered, cast away, or left to scavenge and beg. They typically suffer from unemployment, depression, crime, and insecurity. In the USA, seventy percent of poor people are women and children, with women 35 percent more likely than men to be poor. Single mothers face the highest risk.
Poverty is dehumanizing. The extremely poor are often treated as less than human. As a result, they often feel ashamed of their condition, have low self-esteem, feel inadequate for being perceived as failures in a society where others prosper, and resent being looked at as inferior.
Poverty is a cause of vulnerability. It is a state of being (a) exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally, or (b) unable to resist a hazard or respond when disaster strikes. Examples of vulnerable populations include, but are not limited to, people with disabilities, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, very young children, the uninsured, the homeless, and those with low incomes.
Children are disproportionately the most vulnerable to poverty. Though they account for one-third of the global population, they represent half of those struggling to survive on less than $2.15 a day.
Poverty also impacts the environment, primarily through deforestation, which leads to destructive consequences such as desertification, soil erosion, soil depletion, decreased agricultural productivity, biodiversity loss, climate change, habitat loss, wildlife extinction, greenhouse gas emissions, and flooding. Wood harvesting for domestic fuel or charcoal by the rural poor is one of the leading causes of deforestation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Other causes include agricultural expansion and fires.
Hunger is a product of poverty. It leads to malnutrition, which includes, in all its forms, both undernutrition and overnutrition.
Undernutrition can cause various physical health problems, including weakness, pain, anemia, stunting, wasting, being underweight, and compromised immune systems. It can also cause delayed cognitive development, such as impaired thinking, learning difficulties, reduced concentration, pregnancy complications, and more. Starvation, the most severe form of undernutrition, can lead to permanent organ damage and death.
Overnutrition leads to overweight and obesity. The health risks of overweight and obesity include type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease, certain cancers, and breathing problems.
Overall, hunger and malnutrition result in less productive individuals who are more prone to illness and, therefore, often unable to improve their livelihoods.
