September 16, 2019
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Name: Medha Tripathi

Country: Sri Lanka

United Nations Development Programme

Eradication of Poverty

Around 1.85 billion people, or 36 percent of the world’s population, has lived in extreme poverty. It is needless to say that all countries hope to achieve the eradication of poverty at both domestic and international levels. However, all countries are at different stages of reaching this end goal and have distinct areas in which they are sufficient or lacking to meet the standards they hope to arrive at. Immense progress has been made in the past 30 years; less than 10% of the world currently lives in poverty, meaning survival with less than $1.90 spent daily. Strides have been made and will continue to be made until the international community as a whole reaches its maximum power to eradicate poverty. 

            Many plans have already been enacted in the United Nations assembly and other subcommittees to ensure progress of elimination of poverty. In fact, ending poverty in all its forms is a goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.This goal specifically outlines the neccessity of no descrimination of gender, race, sexual orientation and other forms of discrimination that may prevent certain groups in countries to grow out of poverty. The General Assembly has even coined 17 October as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, a day that brings awareness about poverty to the citizens of the world and honors those that are currently battling poverty. Both the 2030 agenda and the day dedicated to poverty eradication have proven effective as the poverty rate has gone down significantly since both were enacted. 

            Sri Lanka has one of the lowest extreme poverty rates out of the countries located in the South Asian region: 1.8 percent. However, 45% of the population lives on under $5 a day in Sri Lanka. Despite the shocking number of the population that survuves on some form of poverty, the progress that Sri Lanka has made is commendable. After emerging from a civil war in 2012, Sri Lanka’s poverty rate dropped by over 20% in two years. This can be accredited to the fact that ownership of basic assets such as refrigerators, motorcycles, washing machines, computers, and telephones. 

In order to improve upon the current status of poverty, Sri Lanka believes that the roots of the problem must be controlled. Lack of education, high divorce rate, a culture of poverty, illiteracy, overpopulation, epidemic diseases such as AIDS and malaria and environmental problems, such as lack of rainfall, are all leading factors of the widespread poverty that occurs not only in Sri Lanka, but worldwide. The ownership of basic assets may benefit other countries out of extreme poverty the way it did for Sri Lanka, so Sri Lanka advocates for funding to provide these assets to those in impoverished countries, such as those located in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

 

Works Cited

 

“Nearly Half the World Lives on Less than $5.50 a Day.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/10/17/nearly-half-the-world-lives-on-less-than-550-a-day.

“PART I: Understanding Poverty in Sri Lanka.” World Bank, www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/03/02/part1-understanding-poverty-sri-lanka.

Peer, Andrea. “Global Poverty: Facts, FAQs, and How to Help.” World Vision, 21 Nov. 2018, www.worldvision.org/sponsorship-news-stories/global-poverty-facts.

 

  • Medha Tripathi