Segueing from recognizing José Andrés and his globe-trotting efforts to feed the hungry in times of crisis, attention now will turn to the related subject of poverty. According to the World Bank , as of 2024, there were approximately 692 million people across the globe who lived below the $2.15 per day international poverty line. After September 2022's update of the international poverty line, when poverty is measured strictly through the lenses of income, countries are placed into one of the following categories based on their gross national income (GNI) per capita USD:
Granted, there exist different types of unilateral, bilateral, and multilateral foreign aid. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) initiative (from 2015 to 2030), which was an offshoot of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) initiative (from 2000 to 2015), represented a comprehensive, unified, strategic, coordinated, heuristic, and global attempt to tackle the great challenges confronting humankind in an effort "to promote prosperity while protecting the environment" simultaneously all over the world. The 2030 SDG initiative is a bold, valiant, and praiseworthy initiative.
Can the above 17 SDG challenges be met by 2030? Commencing on 01-January-2016 and ending on 31-December-2030, the SDG countdown to 2030 is in motion. Good luck! 👍 福
The following eight (of 17) selected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) graphics provide eight unique views of the human condition. Click each of the eight icons below to see the full-size image of each goal.
If the SDG 2030 initiative must be extended again for not hitting its targets by 31-December-2030, then perhaps the initiative should be extended to the year 2063 to coincide with the African Union's Agenda 2063 initiative. (See image below and see the "Rediscovering Africa " bonus page of this website for more information about the Agenda 2063 initiative.)
With 6 years remaining before 2030 arrives as of 2024, and as echoed by the late, great Professor Hans Rosling in the video immediately below, much work remains to be done before there is a realization of SDG's anti-poverty Goal 1. (Click the image immediately below to watch the full Don't Panic — End Poverty video.)
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(Related to hunger hotspots, see also, for instance, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)'s
Global Conflict Tracker for related indications of upheaval leading to incidences of human displacements, misery, and poverty.)
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As a poverty-related aside, see the following video links for an exploration into what it means to be poor in the USA, that is, in one of the world's high-income countries:
The USA Census Bureau estimated that the USA had a population of close to 337.5 million inhabitants as of 2024. According to the USA Census Bureau , the USA's poverty rate equated to 11.1% with 36.8 million of its inhabitants falling below the "official" USA-established poverty level for 2023. The next graphic shows how poverty is defined in the USA. For instance, for a household consisting of 4 family members who collectively earn less than $31,200 USD per year, this particular household would be deemed to be living in poverty or not being able to comfortably afford to purchase the basic necessities required for a minimally acceptable USA standard of living.
According to the GAO 's report titled "FEDERAL LOW-INCOME PROGRAMS: Multiple Programs Target Diverse Populations and Needs," there are 82 specific federal government programs designed to help keep the USA's less fortunate or low-income members from living in poverty. The report goes on to point out that, for the year 2013 alone, these combined 82 programs cost about $756 billion USD. However, poverty still persists in the USA. It should be noted that not every low-income USA resident qualifies to participate in or benefit from most of these various 82 programs. The poverty rate in the USA would be much higher than 11.1% (as of 2023) without the existence of these various government-sponsored, safety-net, anti-poverty programs.
Alan Batchelder, in his book titled The Economics of Poverty , makes it abundantly clear that unimpeded, non-discriminatory, and non-preferential access for all members of society to physical capital in a stable and professionally managed economy is a primary key to combating poverty (coupled with the presence of a broad and diverse manufacturing base). The assumption is that employees would be earning decent wages and that employers would be maintaining safe working environments. The inherent challenges to overcome in combating poverty are these types of impediments:
How to match the skills of those who want to work to the skills required to perform various jobs . For instance, if the requirements of the job call for employees to be able to read and write on the level of a high-school graduate, then there would be few job opportunities for those adults who cannot read and write or who do not possess at least a high-school diploma. On the one hand, often, jobs exist but the job candidates do not possess the requisite skills or qualifications to fill those available jobs. On the other hand, sometimes on-the-job training is sufficient to overcome some skill deficiencies. More importantly, long-term, stable, and full-time job opportunities must exist in the first place.
How to match the location of the job opportunities with the location of the job seekers. For instance, if industry is booming in the southern and western regions of a given country, then those who live in the northern and eastern regions of that country would face hindered opportunities for work. To be sure, one reason why residents in rural areas relocate to urban areas is due to the fact that greater opportunities for working and earning good money tend to exist in urban areas. For those members of a given region of the country who have long-standing, generational ties to that particular region including social, family, and tangible property ties to that region, for some of them, it becomes too much of a burden and too much of a cost to suddenly leave those ties behind and relocate to another region of the country in pursuit of improved job opportunities. After all, what is the point of going through the effort and trouble of relocating to another region of the country if the job opportunities in the new region are only going to consist of temporary, part-time, and possibly low-paying work? Similarly, if most job opportunities have migrated from central cities and relocated to outlying suburban areas, then residents of central cities are at a decided disadvantage for job opportunities especially if relatively cheap public transportation does not reliably connect to these sometimes remote suburban job locations [that is, in the cases of those central city residents who do not own automobiles to drive to these outlying job locations].
It is these kinds of employment mismatches that further impede or hinder the eradication of poverty.
Decent work is work which provides for the health and education of the family; which ensures their basic security in old age and adversity; and which respects their human rights at work. Decent work is not defined in terms of any fixed standard or monetary level. It varies from country to country. But everybody, everywhere, has a sense of what decent work means in terms of their own lives, and in relation to their own society.
Source: International Labour Organization (ILO )
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The next image is illustrative of a multi-pronged approach required to eradicate the existence of poverty. However, other components are equally crucial, for instance, when the World Bank concludes the following in its annual report titled World Development Report, 1980 : "The diagram is illustrative, and the policies shown are not the only determinants of poverty or of human development. As has been stressed, climate, culture, religion and natural resources all shape the environment in which development takes place and influence the choice of policies. So do political realities, administrative constraints and the world economy."
The following quote from Barber Conable, the then President of The World Bank, summarizes a holistic or a more comprehensive strategy to eradicate poverty. The quote is consistent with the Poverty and Policy Figure 5.6 image above.
A review of development experience shows that the most effective way of achieving rapid and politically sustainable improvements in the quality of life for the poor has been through a two-part strategy. The first element of the strategy is the pursuit of a pattern of growth that ensures productive use of the poor's most abundant asset labor. The second element is widespread provision to the poor of basic social services, especially primary education, primary health care, and family planning. The first component provides opportunities; the second increases the capacity of the poor to take advantage of these opportunities. The strategy must be complemented by well-targeted transfers, to help those not able to benefit from these policies, and by safety nets, to protect those who are exposed to shocks.
Although domestic policy is critical to the reduction of poverty, international assistance is needed to support countries' efforts. Simply increasing resources, however, will not solve the problem. Aid is most effective when it complements the recipients' efforts. The allocation of aid should be more closely linked to a country's commitment to pursue development programs geared to the reduction of poverty.
Source: World Development Report 1990 - Poverty
The United Nations General Assembly reached a conclusion about the eradication of poverty that is very similar to the above World Bank quote. This similar conclusion was contained in the 2021 edition of its reports titled "Extreme poverty and human rights ."
Let there be no illusions about it. There are no quick and easy solutions to solving the dual and lingering problems of poverty and hunger. If there were quick and easy solutions, then such human challenges would have been solved a long time ago. At the same time, the formidable challenge of eradicating global poverty is no reason to give up and quit simply because the task at hand has proven to be difficult to surmount.
China serves as an anti-poverty case study perhaps to be emulated. China has demonstrated proof that the challenge of poverty eradication can be met as illustrated by the next graphic.
In the instance of China meeting the poverty eradication challenge, the above graphic shows that, when using the then poverty standard of $1.90 per day, over the course of 40 years (that is, from 1978 to 2019), China's poverty rate fell from 97.5% (or 770 million residents living in poverty in 1978) to 0.6% (or 5.5 million residents living in poverty in 2019). Effectively, by 2021, China had eradicated extreme poverty based on the $1.90 per day poverty standard. However, as noted by Wikipedia.org's article titled "Poverty in China ," as of 2020, China was considered to be classified as an upper-middle-income country. When applying the then $5.50 per day poverty standard in 2020 to China, its poverty rate suddenly goes from 0.6% to around 13%.
The table below shows how, before September 2022, the international poverty line was set at $1.90 per day, and it was based on 2011's purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rate as stated in USA dollars. After September 2022, the international poverty line was set at $2.15 per day, and it was based on 2017's PPP dollars. Notice how the table gives precise dollars in the Median columns. Popular literature on poverty usually rounds the international poverty line amounts to the nearest five cents. For instance, before September 2022, $1.91 per day would get rounded to $1.90 per day (for low-income countries) and $5.47 per day would get rounded to $5.50 per day (for upper-middle income countries). In the graphic below, the "(A) 2011 PPP" column represents the international poverty line amounts in use before September 2022. The "(B) 2017 PPP" column represents the international poverty lines in use after September 2022. Again, in reality, the amounts are rounded to the nearest five cents. So, the $3.21 amount becomes $3.20 per day and the $3.63 amount becomes $3.65 per day for lower-middle-income countries before and after September 2022, respectively.
Using the then global poverty standard of $1.90 per day, how did China accomplish the astonishing feat of practically eliminating extreme poverty throughout China in the short span of 40 years? The astonishing thing about China's anti-poverty accomplishment was both the speed [of 40 years] and the scale [of 765 million fewer residents living in extreme poverty] in which China radically reduced the incidence of extreme poverty. The next graphic summarizes China's two-pillar approach to poverty reduction and, ultimately, to poverty elimination.
Elon Musk's $6 Billion USD Hunger Challenge
As a side note about hunger, in October 2021, David Beasley , the then director of the United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP), issued a one-time call to the world's billionaires. He called on them to help rescue 42 million humans residing in 43 countries from the brink of starvation at that particular point in time. He called for a combined contribution of $6 billion USD. The $6 billion USD amount was later revised and increased to a call for a $7 billion USD contribution. It was not a call that would have resulted in the elimination of hunger from the face of the Earth for all time.
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Elon Musk, who was the 2016 winner of the Annual Bruessard Award, expressed a willingness to answer David Beasley's call. But, before contributing $6 billion, Elon Musk challenged the WFP to demonstrate to him how the $6 billion would be used to end world hunger. Being the highly acclaimed engineer that he is, Elon Musk wanted to see a blueprint outlining exactly how hunger would be alleviated, say, by utilizing a software application such as Microsoft Project that would show how all of the parts fit together, so to speak. He wanted to see exactly how would the WFP go about the task of eradicating world hunger. In a way, Elon Musk was making a larger point that blueprints also can be a useful way to show in a clear and concise manner exactly how all 17 of the SDG goals and all 20 of the Agenda 2063 goals would be met on schedule and at what cost.
At the outset, there appears to have been a bit of confusion in the challenge. According to Elon Musk's tweets on the platform formerly known as Twitter , initially he seemed to have assumed that the $6 billion would lead to an eradication of world hunger for all time. In reality, the call only involved a one-time cost of $6 billion to feed the 42 million humans in 43 countries across the world who were living on the brink of starvation at that particular point in time in 2021.
A distinction should be made between SDG 1 and SDG 2. The goal of SDG 1 is to end world poverty in all its forms everywhere by the year 2030. The goal of SDG 2, on the other hand, is to "end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture" by the year 2030. David Beasley's call to billionaires was focused on one aspect of SDG 2, and it was not focused on SDG 1 at all. Although some people use SDG 1 and SDG 2 loosely and interchangeably, it should be emphasized that the $6 billion requested had nothing at all to do with ending world poverty. To be sure, even in the case of attaining SDG 2, the WFP estimates that it would require financial outlays of "$40 billion dollars per year to feed all of the world’s hungry people and end global hunger by 2030," not the $6 billion amount often cited in the media. The monetary price tag to eradicate world hunger for all time far exceeds a one-time, $6 billion expense.
The following six graphics were taken from the 2024 edition of the Global Report on Food Crises report. These graphics provide additional insights into the challenges entailed in eradicating world hunger. The report indicates that there were 281.6 million people facing high levels of food insecurity in 59 countries in 2023. The 281.6 million people were further divided into 5 phases depending on the severity of the hunger. Phases 4 and 5 represented the most severe cases of hunger. The seventh graphic (depicted as Figures 2, 3, and 4 below) focuses on the financial outlays involved in combating hunger, and this graphic was taken from the 2023 Financing Flows and Food Crises Report – Analysis report.
According to the 2023 Financing Flows and Food Crises Report – Analysis report and as seen in the seventh graphic displayed immediately above this paragraph, in 2021, overall world humanitarian financing totaled a little over $30 billion USD. Of the $30 billion, roughly $10 billion USD was allocated to food sectors to address matters of food insecurity and hunger. During 2021, overall world development financing totaled about $200 billion USD. Of the $200 billion USD, roughly $6.1 billion USD was allocated to food sectors to address matters of food insecurity and hunger. In essence, for year 2021, a total of $16.1 billion USD was allocated to address matters of food insecurity and hunger. The $16.1 billion USD was utilized to combat hunger in the most severely impacted countries. Apparently, the $16.1 billion was not enough money for David Beasley to work with, that is, for him to have urgently needed $7 billion more in funding to combat hunger in 2021. After all, the WFP did indicate that $40 billion per year was the amount of money needed to eradicate world hunger by the year 2030.
What blueprint did the WFP give to Elon Musk? According to the WFP 's website, the WFP stated that "$6 billion dollars would provide the 42 million people living on the brink of famine with one lifesaving, nutrition-packed meal per day for a year. One meal costs the U.N. World Food Programme as little as $0.43 cents, so: $0.43 cents per meal × 42 million people facing famine × 365 days a year = $6.6 billion."
What was the outcome of the Elon Musk 2021 hunger challenge? According to Yahoo 's website, "While Musk didn't directly donate $6 billion to the WFP but he contributed $5.7 billion in Tesla stock to his Musk Foundation later that year. According to reports, the exact allocation of these funds remains opaque, leaving critics and supporters alike to speculate on their impact." The bottom-line is this: As indicated by the 2024 edition of the Global Report on Food Crises, as of 2024, world hunger persists with little respite in sight.
It is customary for each year's Annual Bruessard Award to take a moment to reflect on the big [existential] picture. That is to say, it is customary for me to stray off topic to throw in my two cents' worth, so to speak. True to custom, this year's award is no exception, but, in this instance, I have strayed away from the topic of hunger and poverty. So, in closing this 2024 edition of the Annual Bruessard Award, my two cents' worth is this: Humans should neither stop appreciating nor lose sight of the fact that they are but one of many living species floating through space and privileged to be inhabiting a miraculous, atmosphere-encased, water-endowed, air-abundant, life-supporting, blue marble of a planet called Earth.
The existential point to be made here is this: Given the vastness of the Universe, and given that miraculous but inconsequential planet Earth finds itself embedded within the larger framework of a vast Universe, humans should neither stop appreciating nor lose sight of the fact that they have a good thing going on their beloved Mother Earth. More precisely, this good thing that they have going is known as the miracle of life. Humans should not blow it. Humans, through their science and technology, should not extinguish the torch of life on Earth . There are numerous ways in which life on Earth can be terminated. God Almighty is but one of those many ways in which life on Earth can be terminated. Humans should not be the culprits who terminate life on beloved Mother Earth. Humans should not be the culprits who destroy the Earth's rather robust tree of life.
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