Poverty in the Philippines
In almost all of the places in the Philippines today, inequality—the gap between the rich and the poor—is quite high and often widening. Poverty has always been present. It is one of the biggest and most evident problems in the Philippines. Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support. (Merriam Webster Dictionary, n.d.) Poverty and inequality in the Philippines remains a challenge.
There are several causes on why a huge number of people in the Philippines experience poverty. One of which is the inequality in the income distribution. The rich earns higher income than the poor. This unequal income distribution will cause the rich and their families to get richer and the poor to only get poorer to the point of not being able to acquire basic necessities. Another cause is the lack of quality education. Since not all people are able to have the best quality of education, many of them will have a hard time competing with graduates from other countries in terms of getting a job. The lack of jobs is another factor on experiencing poverty. (Asian Developent Bank, 2009) Since there is a lack of jobs, it would increase the number of unemployed people. Unemployed individuals will not be able to earn a living thus need to depend on others who are employed for basic needs. Also, overpopulation contributes on why a huge number of people in the Philippines experience poverty. With a rapidly growing population, it will be hard to accommodate all the people in the labor force. It will be hard to ensure the every Filipino will be able to get a job and earn a living. The more people that is unemployed, the more people will suffer from poverty and have trouble accommodating their basic needs. Another cause is corruption. Instead of having to improve the country by the means of the money of the people, it ends up in the pockets of some unjust politicians causing the condition of the country to worsen. (Shah, 2014)
As the poverty in the Philippines continue to worsen, the people, mostly in the state of poverty, experiences consequences. One of which is experiencing health problems. Since they are in bad living condition and they are not able to sustain their needs, they are much prone to having health problems. Also, poverty in the Philippines increases crime rate. Poverty causes people who are desperate for money to rob and do crimes for easy cash. (Asian Development Bank, 2009) Lastly, child labor is one of the effects of poverty. Children no longer go to school in order to work to be able to survive. (Uy, n.d.)
Many people suffer from poverty. In order to avoid poverty, we should solve the causes such as unequal income distribution, lack of quality education, lack of jobs, overpopulation, and corruption. If we are able to solve this problem, we would lessen poverty, thus, would help lessen health problems, crime rate and child labor.
Sources:
Shah, A. (2014, September 8). Causes of poverty. Global Issues. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty
Uy, J. (n.d.) Poverty: causes, effects, and how we can solve it. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://sites.my.xs.edu.ph/joseph-pua-14/social-science/poverty-causes-effects-and-how-we-can-solve-it
Poverty in the Philippines: lack of vision, yet new solution?. (n.d.) Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.poverties.org/poverty-in-the-philippines.html
Poverty in the Philippines: causes, constraints, and opportunities. (2009, December). Asian Development Bank. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.adb.org/publications/poverty-philippines-causes-constraints-and-opportunities.
