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World Poverty
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Many people in the world, especially in developing countries, are extremely poor
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1.1 billion people in the world live on less than 55p a day and a further 2.7 billion live on less than £1.10
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Living in poverty does not simply mean not having enough food. It leads to many different social problems
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Some poor countries do not have enough schools and many people cannot read or write. This restricts people living in poverty to a certain number of jobs
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Having affordable healthcare and medicines is a major issue in Africa where in some countries one in three people suffer from AIDS
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People who suffer from poverty often also have a much lower life expectancy than those in the western world. In the majority of African countries it is less than 50 years - in Wales it is 77
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The devastation caused by war and natural disasters such as drought can lead to poverty. The distribution of money in a country is controlled by the government, and sometimes money is unevenly shared
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Some signs of poverty are decreasing - worldwide people are living longer than they did 50 years ago and more can read and write. However, poverty still accounts for one third of the world's deaths, particularly the deaths of young children
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The wealth of the world is unevenly shared. The three richest people in the world have more money than the poorest 600 million people put together
Poverty in Wales
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Although many people in Wales may not be considered poor on a world scale because we live in one of the world's richer countries, poverty still exists in Wales and the UK
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11.4 million people in Britain are considered to be living in poverty, and around 10 per cent of young people are out of work
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Wales is home to some of the most deprived areas in Europe. It has seen the decline of major industries, such as coal mining and steel working, in the last fifty years, which has contributed to rates of poverty
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Homelessness has risen sharply in Wales, with the number of homeless households, which could contain more than one person, rising from 8,000 in 2000 to 16,000 in 2004
