The most corrupt countries in the world and their relationship with poverty

Gregorio Punzano
4 min readJan 11, 2023

‍While the causes of poverty are complex, there is one thing that we can all agree on: it happens everywhere. The World Bank estimates that by the end of this century, more than a billion people will live in extreme poverty, meaning they spend more than half of their income on basic needs like food, housing and clothing. And while places like India have made tremendous strides in reducing poverty over the past few decades, it’s not enough. With each passing day, another Indian child joins the ranks of those who are too poor to attend school. There are an estimated 2 billion people living in sub-Saharan Africa and another 1 billion in South Asia who face similar challenges. While these two regions have made great strides in eradicating poverty over the past few decades, rich countries must step up their efforts if they want to end hunger and prevent millions from falling into extreme poverty.

South Asia and Africa: The forgotten region of world hunger

While the causes of world hunger remain complex, the fact that it still exists is a clear indication of how much progress has been made by the people of these two regions. South Asia and Africa are home to the majority of the world’s hungry people. In both regions, hunger is a growing problem, but in Asia it’s especially troubling. In many parts of this continent, a single meal can mean the difference between life and death. For many people in these regions, a bowl of rice and beans in the morning is their only meal of the day.

The number one country in this group is India. According to data from the World Bank, an estimated 1.2 billion people live in poverty across the country. In a region where more than one child in five is under the age of 18, this is a huge difficulty. While there are ways that India can end poverty and hunger, it’s important to note that it will take far more than a combination of economic growth and a commitment to educational opportunities to do so. A much more impactful and long-term solution will be found through social inclusion, improved health and education.

How rich countries can end world hunger

In order to end world hunger, it is essential that the rich countries of the world increase their investment in the areas that will end it. To this end, the International Campaign to End Hunger (Inec) has released a report that calculates the amount needed to end hunger in 2020. To put this in perspective, the poorest country in the world, South Asia, would require an investment of $1.6 trillion dollars over the next decade. This investment would help the region’s poor people achieve a better quality of life and improve their access to essential services like education and healthcare. In comparison, the richest country in the world, India, has an annual budget of just under $1 trillion dollars. It makes sense then that India’s contribution to ending world hunger is much less than that of the United States or China. While both countries have made great strides in ending hunger, India has done so at a much lower cost because of its enormous size.

The one thing every rich country needs to do

As the populations of both Asia and Africa continue to grow, so will their hunger. Currently, the rate of growth in Asia is expected to exceed that of Africa within the next two decades, which will cause even more people to face hunger. To prevent a catastrophe like the one that happened in India in the mid-20th century, it’s essential that the world’s richest countries take urgent action to end hunger. To this end, the report recommends that each country increase its investment in the areas that will end world hunger by a factor of three. This would allow for more rapid growth and more people to be lifted out of poverty, as well as assist in preventing a potential food crisis in the future.

Conclusion

The world is going to face a growing population of more than 10 billion people by the end of this century. In order to meet this growing demand for food, the world will have to increase its food production by more than 50 percent. This, however, would require enormous amounts of water, land, and energy. In the absence of these resources, it will be very difficult to provide enough food for all the people of the world.

In the absence of these resources, it will be very difficult to provide enough food for all the people of the world. This problem can be solved, however, and the solution can be found in developing countries. By focusing on improving the standard of living of the poor, not only will the people in these regions be able to eat, but so will the people living in middle and high-income countries.

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