Even though human beings have made a lot of progress in terms of science that fact remains that we have been able to do little to alleviate poverty. Poverty statistics show that nearly 80 per cent of the population of the world lives under an income of $10 everyday. The answer to why all of us who lead comfortable urban lives are unaware of this ghastly fact lies in poverty statistics too.

The rich get richer

Most of us remain blissfully ignorant because only 20 percent of the world population that is rich and healthy contributes to three fourth of the world income. Whereas the 40 per cent of the world population that remains poor remain under acknowledged because their contribution to the world income is less than 5 per cent! Most of us who have food on our tables and regularly waste food are not even aware of such dreadful poverty statistics.

When we waste food at our homes and restaurants do we think about poverty statistics? Are we even aware of the fact that 22,000 children die every day of hunger! Those of us who are fortunate enough to have excess food remain blissfully unaware of the how many people are battling daily with hunger pangs in some corner of the earth, where there is abject poverty. Not for once do we consider that there are millions of people who do not have access to one square meal in a day.

….and the poor get poorer

And that is not all when it comes to poverty statistics. The World Health Organisation has estimated that about 28 per cent of children in developing countries are stunted and underweight because of the conditions of poverty that they live in. Because they do not have access to any source of nutrition, these children often contract many illnesses that even shorten their life span. South Asia and South Africa are two main regions that account mainly for this deficit. Poverty statistics further point out towards the fact that if the current trend of malnutrition among children continues the Millennium Development Goals target will be missed by a huge margin of 30 million children, because of the poor progress in these nations.

Most of us who are fortunate enough to live in big cities and have easy access to a lot of amenities tend to take essential things like water and air for granted. There are alarming poverty statistics with relation to water. More than a billion odd people who live in developing countries do not have access to clean drinking water and nearly 3 billion people in these countries make do with the lack of basic sanitation.

There is more disparity apparent in poverty statistics with regards to basic needs such as water. 85 per cent of the wealthiest people in the world have access to piped water in their homes whereas the poorest 20 per cent of the world population have to walk miles to collect a small utensil full of clean drinking water. If this is the progress that we claim to have made, we should indeed hang our heads in shame.