4 Ways the World Can Narrow the Rich-Poor Gap
Poverty of any form is unkind to humanity. As of early 2020, over 588 million people lived in abject poverty. The UN’s sustainable development goals challenge the world to rise up and conquer the phenomenon before the next ten years. However, breaking the cycle of poverty is only possible if everyone, including institutions, places more focus on achieving financial freedom without an over-reliance on aid.
Here are four ways the world can eradicate poverty and bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
Equal Representation
Marginalization can be listed as one contributing factor for extreme poverty in the world. Society has erected systemic barriers, leading to some people being underrepresented in their various communities. If the fight against poverty is to be won hands-down, all communities need to have a fair representation in decision-making processes.
For example, the United Nations’ Women’s Economic Empowerment Panel says that unpaid female labour sums up to 10 trillion US Dollars annually, and that figure represents a whopping 13% of the world’s GDP. Despite the fact that women account for 60% of the African and Asian agricultural workforce, they do not own up to 20% of agricultural lands. And even though women contribute immensely to agriculture’s sustainability, unfortunately, the distribution of natural resources has not been very fair to them. Ensuring that all groups of people are given equal opportunities and tools to succeed financially is critical if the world wants to conquer poverty.
Tackling Climate Change Issues
Climate change is the long-term alteration in global weather conditions. Experts think that the world is cruising towards a cataclysm due to the effects of climate change and global warming. The World Bank also fears that when urgent actions are not taken, the impact of climate change could see some 100 million people fall into abject poverty in the coming decade. Cyclones, floods, and hurricanes are becoming stronger than ever before. When these waves of disasters strike, they destroy properties and make life even harder for vulnerable communities. The world may have to adopt smart agricultural techniques to help the environment adapt to harsh weather in order to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Good Quality Education
Education is perhaps the best weapon against poverty. If the world can provide a solid education for all, defeating poverty will be more feasible. The problem with modern education is that it is not affordable and equally distributed. When the cost of education is substantially high, poorer kids drop out, leaving only those from more affluent families to attain higher education.
Annually, student loan debts accumulate into trillions of dollars because college education has become too expensive. Solutions like the Debt to Success System aim to help people attain freedom from such financial constraints. But is DTSS legit? The answer is yes! When students graduate from college owing insurmountable debts, they may find it hard to bridge their rich-poor gaps. A debt to success system (DTSS) can help them discharge their debts and regain their financial freedom.
Finally, educational resources need to be distributed proportionally throughout the world, and their costs lowered significantly. Instead of segregating the school system into private schools for the rich and public schools for the poor, society may have to re-engineer education to be a unifier and not a divider.
Teaching Financial Literacy
Traditional school systems focus so much on the sciences and humanities to the detriment of financial education. At the end of the day, many graduates become job seekers instead of creators, which can be attributed to the lack of financial literacy skills. If everyone is to become rich, then people will need to change their mindsets about money.
From low to average income earners, the barriers that prevent some people from achieving financial stability are their attitudes towards money. Therefore, if you do not plan on how to be financially secure, you risk becoming destitute. So, strive to change your attitude towards money to change your financial situation. You can do this by learning how to invest, saving more, budgeting effectively, and spending less.
You will also need to build good credit scores along the line, which can determine how far you can climb the financial ladder. Credit scores show your creditworthiness, and the better they are, the more likely you are to achieve economic security and grow your wealth.
The bottom line is that there is a wide disparity in the gap between the rich and the poor. Thankfully, the world can break this cycle if all its population is well-educated and equally represented. There is also the need for people to change their mindset about money.