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There is no denying that palm oil gets a lot of bad press...and rightly so! There is no other vegetable oil on the planet that shows up in such a vast array of consumer goods, making consumers unknowingly complicit in horrific crimes against animals, people, and the environment. In fact, according to Palm Oil Consumers Action, most Americans "have never heard of palm oil," let alone understand the complex global conflicts its production has created!

This is why raising awareness about how palm oil production is harming the planet, animals, and people alike is so, so important.

There are sustainable methods for producing palm oil that do not involve deforestation, human rights abuses, or animal deaths. It is just a matter of holding corporations accountable for making positive change. The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil has set bold guidelines to help reform the palm oil industry, promoting transparency, fair labor, and strict environmental standards. However, there are still a number of problems in implementing and regulating the RSPO standards and some corporations that have joined the Roundtable have yet to actually adopt better practices.

This is where you come in. As a greater awareness is brought to the injustices of palm oil production, there is a greater push for change. By reading and sharing these facts about palm oil, you are helping to educate the many consumers that still do not know that they eat palm oil everyday. Making informed consumer decisions is an amazing way to influence corporations to change for the better. So start reading and share with everyone you know!

The Facts

1. Palm oil is high in saturated fat. One tablespoon of palm oil contains 55 percent of the daily recommendation of saturated fat.

2. Up to 300 football fields of forest are cleared every HOUR to make room for palm plantations.

3. In the past 10 years, the orangutan population has decreased by 50 percent as the result of habitat loss from forest clearing for palm plantations.

4. There are only 6,300 Sumatran orangutans left. It is estimated that 1,000 orangutans are killed a year, a major factor in these deaths being forest clearing for palm production. In 2006, at least 1,500 orangutans were clubbed to death by palm workers.

5. Clearing one hectare (about two square acres) of peat forest can release 6,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Indonesia has currently cleared around six million hectares of tropical peat forest...they have plans to expand by four million more hectares by 2015.

6. In Indonesia, the palm oil industry is responsible for about 5,000 land and human rights conflicts. Nearly 45 million people live in the forests of Indonesia. In 2011, Wilmar (one of the world's largest palm oil producers) bulldozers ransacked an entire village, destroying 40 homes to clear 40,000 hectares of land for a palm plantation.

7. Only 35 percent of palm growers that are members of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil are actually certified by the RSPO. Meaning the other 65 percent pay to be "members," but have taken no action to adhere to the RSPO guidelines in their growing practices.

8. Palm oil ranks among the U.S. Department of Labor's top four worst industries for forced and child labor. This 2013 article by Benjamin Skinner, illustrates the deep seeds of human rights abuses prevalent in the palm industry.

9. RSPO standards allow growers to plant on peat lands and to clear secondary forests. Tropical peat lands store up to 10 times more carbon than " mineral soil, " meaning draining and planting on peat lands is up to 10 times more detrimental to the environment.

10. Palm oil development allows easy access for poachers into exposed habitats that have been cleared for plantations. As the result, it is estimated that the Sumatran tiger population will be extinct in LESS than three years if nothing is done to protect their habitat or combat poachers.

What You Can Do
Image source: Marco Schmidt / Wikipedia Commons

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Top 10 Facts You NEED to Know about Palm Oil

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As a greater awareness is brought to the injustices of palm oil production, there is a greater push for change. By reading and sharing these facts about palm oil, you are helping to educate the many consumers that still do not know that they eat palm oil everyday.

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Animal charity ad campaign videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO9d2PpP7tQ (SPCA-Sarah McLaughlin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nV2R0nrufo (ISPCA Better Together)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F_8qaQ3DD0 (Furkids)

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Video explanation

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Calculator

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Frequently Asked Questions

How many planets does it take to support your lifestyle?
Try our new Footprint Calculator at www.footprintcalculator.org to find out your Ecological Footprint and personal Earth Overshoot Day and learn about solutions to help us all tread more lightly on the Earth.

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Footprint Calculator - Measure your Impact - Global Footprint Network

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Use our Footprint calculator to find out what your biggest areas of resource consumption are and learn how to tread more lightly on the Earth.

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Top 10 facts on poverty in Ireland

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In Ireland, the number of people living in poverty is steadily increasing. Since the beginning of the recession in 2008, the number has risen due to situational factors, such as unemployment and poor health, and exacerbated structural economic inequalities that perpetuate a cycle of poverty in Ireland.

Top 10 Facts about Poverty in Ireland

790,000 people live in poverty: According to the Irish National Anti-Poverty Strategy, people living in poverty in Ireland are unable to maintain a standard of living acceptable by Irish society due to their lack of resources.

18 percent of adults in poverty hold jobs: Despite working, these people do not earn salaries that allow them to cover basic costs of living for themselves and their families. They are called 'the working poor' by Social Justice Ireland.

There is a large income gap in Ireland: Social Justice Ireland found that the bottom 10 percent of Irish households only received 3 percent of the country's total disposable income, while the top 10 percent of households received 24 percent of the income.

There are regional differences in poverty: Poverty in the more developed southern and eastern regions of Ireland is 50 percent less per capita than in the rural border, midlands and west regions of the country.

Disadvantaged populations are more likely to be in poverty: Sick or disabled people, and children younger than 18, are more likely to be at risk of poverty or in consistent poverty than healthy adults.

Single parent households are three times as likely to be in poverty: Compared to two-parent households, families with only a single parent are three times as likely to be in consistent poverty and twice as likely to be at risk of poverty.

Rent prices are increasing: Rent prices in Ireland are rising at six times the rate of European rates. When housing prices rise, the prices of other goods rise as well, causing poor families to stretch their resources to cover basic life necessities.

Over 8,500 people were homeless in Ireland in December 2017: This number includes over 3,000 children and represents a 17 percent increase in the number of homeless families since December 2016.

Despite the poverty, economic growth is occurring: The Irish economy has moved past its recovery phase following the recession and into a time of growth. In 2017, 55,000 jobs were created, and in 2018, 4 percent growth of the economy is projected.

Specific policies are necessary to reduce poverty: To combat poverty in Ireland, specific government policies to address the areas of structural inequality are necessary. For example, creating a minimum living wage so all workers can afford a basic standard of life.

Even though there are still many steps needed to overcome poverty in Ireland, the Irish people are highly resilient. The 2017 World Happiness Report found that Ireland is the 15th happiest country in the world. Additionally, the report found only a small loss in happiness among the Irish people since the 2008 recession, and a high number of people reported they have someone to count on - strengths necessary to survive hardship.
- Hayley Herzog

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The Top 10 Need-to-Know Facts About Poverty in Ireland

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In Ireland, the number of people living in poverty is steadily increasing. Since the beginning of the recession in 2008, the number has risen due to situational factors, such as unemployment and poor health, and exacerbated structural economic inequalities that perpetuate a cycle of poverty in Ireland.

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Understanding & defining poverty

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"People are living in poverty if their income and resources (material, cultural and social) are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living which is acceptable by Irish society generally. As a result of inadequate income and resources people may be excluded and marginalised from participating in activities considered the norm for other people in society."

The definition above has been in use since its inception in the 1997 National Anti-Poverty Strategy. This definition highlights that while poverty is about income, it is also associated with access to services, resources and outcomes for people who experience poverty and social exclusion.

There are three ways of measuring poverty levels in Ireland:

Relative/At Risk Of Poverty: According to the Combat Poverty Agency, "Relative income poverty is having an income that is less than what is regarded as the norm in society, giving a lower than normal standard of living. It is "relative" because it is measured by how much less it is relative to the income of the majority of people. It is usually expressed as a percentage figure, e.g. the 60% relative income poverty line is 60% of the disposable income of the median (or middle) household. This is the most common measure of poverty used across the EU, where it is often referred to as the 'at risk of poverty' level. 16.9% of the population were at-risk of poverty in 2015.

Material Deprivation: Those in material or enforced deprivation in Ireland are those who cannot afford at least two of the eleven goods or services considered essential for a basic standard of living. 25.5% of the population experienced material deprivation in 2015. The current 11 indicators are:

1. Two pairs of strong shoes

2. A warm waterproof overcoat

3. Buy new not second-hand clothes

4. Eat meals with meat, chicken, fish (or vegetarian equivalent) every second day

5. Have a roast joint or its equivalent once a week

6. Had to go without heating during the last year through lack of money

7. Keep the home adequately warm

8. Buy presents for family or friends at least once a year

9. Replace any worn out furniture

10. Have family or friends for a drink or meal once a month

11. Have a morning, afternoon or evening out in the last fortnight, for entertainment

Consistent poverty: This is the poverty measurement preferred by the Irish Government and developed independently by the Irish Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). This measure identifies the proportion of people who are both relatively poor (less than 60% of median income) and who are materially deprived because they cannot afford two of the eleven agreed items. 8.7% of the population were in consistent poverty in 2015.

Ireland has no relative poverty target. In 2012 The Irish Government adopted a 'national social target for poverty reduction which is "to reduce consistent poverty to 4 per cent by 2016 (interim target) and to 2 per cent or less by 2020, from the 2010 baseline rate of 6.2 per cent". This replaced the poverty target in Ireland's National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016.

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"People are living in poverty if their income and resources (material, cultural and social) are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living which is acceptable by Irish society generally. As a result of inadequate income and resources people may be excluded and marginalised from participating in activities considered the norm for other people in society."

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Irish Times Article

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The early 1990s was a period of significant change for Ireland. The economy grew at a rapid pace and unemployment fell dramatically, but poverty was still very high by international standards.

In April 1997, the then government launched Ireland's first anti-poverty strategy. The foreword, signed by the three leaders of the rainbow coalition - John Bruton, Dick Spring and Proinsias De Rossa - signalled that poverty would be at the top of the national agenda and that the interests of the most marginalised would be central to the policymaking process.

Speaking at the launch, Bruton, the then taoiseach, said social exclusion was a pervasive phenomenon and highlighted how the "growth of the economy can leave large sections of the community untouched".

The publication of the strategy was significant as it was the first time the broader impacts of poverty and social exclusion on society were articulated in national policy. It acknowledged that implementation would require making difficult policy choices to address the underlying structural issues which create and perpetuate poverty.

The Human Development Report - published each year by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme - allows us see how poverty has fared in Ireland through a boom, bust and recovery 21 years later. In the early 1990s, 34 per cent of the population lived below the poverty line. The next worst performer was Spain at 21 per cent, followed by the Netherlands and the United States, both at 14 per cent.

In 2016, the rate of relative income poverty was 16.5 per cent in Ireland. Using this indicator, it seems the situation is much better than it was then - our rate is now lower than Spain and the US but still higher than in the Netherlands.

Nevertheless, this is still a significant proportion of our population.

The population in 1997 was 3.7 million and 1.4 million were below the poverty line. In 2016, the population had increased to 4.7 million with almost 800,000 below the poverty line.

This poverty measure also doesn't give us the full picture, as it just shows the distribution of income in a given society but doesn't tell us anything about living standards.

European survey

Data from the European Survey of Income and Living Conditions shows that 77 per cent of those living below the poverty line in Ireland stated they could not meet unexpected expenses - well above the EU average. Denmark had the lowest rate out of all 28 EU countries.

What these statistics illustrate is that the experience of living below the poverty line in Ireland is very different than in Scandinavian countries, where citizens benefit from high-quality, accessible public services and supports. Households in such countries have more disposable income to meet unexpected costs due to an overall lower cost of living.

The Society of St Vincent de Paul has first-hand experience of what it is like to live in poverty in a rich country such as Ireland. Every week members see how the lack of investment in housing, childcare, education and health impacts on people's ability to get out and stay out of poverty.

Two weaknesses of the anti-poverty strategy were highlighted in a 1997 article in the The Irish Times by author and academic Peadar Kirby. The first was the need to ensure gender equality so that women do not continue to be bypassed by development, and the second was to ensure social equality so that the rich do not benefit disproportionately from economic growth. Once we dig a little deeper, it is clear these concerns are borne out in the data.

The Government has an opportunity to make sure that we don't repeat the same mistakes of the past

Without question, female labour participation has grown significantly in the past two decades. Yet a group that policy has failed, and continues to fail, is one-parent families - the majority of which are headed by women. Today, almost half of one-parent families live below the poverty line. This rate is the second highest out of all 28 EU countries, just after Bulgaria.

Since 2012, reforms of the one-parent family payment, which sought to increase employment among lone parents, the rate of "in-work" poverty has risen by almost 120 per cent among one-parent families but is falling among two-parent families.

While some progress is being made under the affordable childcare scheme, Irish parents continue to face the highest childcare costs in Europe. This, coupled with the higher propensity for lone parents to be engaged in low-paid and precarious work, has meant that employment is not always a route out of poverty for these families.

Wealth distribution

Kirby was also justified in his concerns around the distribution of wealth and income. Ireland has the highest rate of market inequality among all EU countries. Undoubtedly, without vital cash transfers, things would be a lot worse as almost half of our population would live below the poverty line, but it is not a sustainable approach as the underlying inequality remains.

Kirby's salient point from 1997, therefore remains relevant today: "Without mainstreaming of poverty reduction into economic policy, our best efforts are likely to be blunted."

At this critical juncture, when unemployment is falling and the economy is growing, the Government has an opportunity to make sure that we don't repeat the same mistakes of the past, and needs to revisit the 1997 strategy and reflect on what happened during the intervening years.

Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina Doherty recently indicated that the forthcoming National Action Plan for Social Inclusion will focus on "active inclusion", which essentially means reducing poverty through integration into the labour market.

However, unless we address the structural inequalities which exist in our society, place a value on caring work, and make a sustained effort to deal with the issues that disproportionately affect women such as wage disparities and high childcare costs, it is very likely that Kirby's forewarnings will once again ring true in another 21 years' time.
Dr Tricia Keilthy is head of social justice at the Society of S t Vincent de Paul

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Ireland must finally address the real causes of poverty

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The early 1990s was a period of significant change for Ireland. The economy grew at a rapid pace and unemployment fell dramatically, but poverty was still very high by international standards. In April 1997, the then government launched Ireland's first anti-poverty strategy.

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Emerging Economies

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Chinese and Malaysians are no longer poor. Indians, Ethiopians, and Vietnamese are still poor, but not as poor as they were 20 years ago. Singaporeans are as rich as Americans, and South Koreans are catching up.

The reason? Sustained economic growth that surpassed population growth, lifting per capita GDP.

Achieving sustained growth over a couple of decades or longer is among the top challenges for emerging economies. But only 18 emerging economies achieved such growth benchmarks as per capita GDP grown of more than 3.5% over 50 years, or 5% growth over 20 years, lifting close to a billion of people out of extreme poverty-see Tables 1 and 2.

That's according to a recent McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) study, which surveyed the growth patterns of 71 emerging market economies.

Table 1

11 Countries With 5% Per Capita GDP Annually For 20 Years

Table 2

7 Countries With 3% Per Capita GDP Annually For 50 Years

What separates and sets apart these 18 emerging market economies from the rest? For some, it's a numbers game, as they started to grow at extremely low levels. Yet for some, there are four specific policies, according to the same study, which contribute.

One of them is a pro-growth agenda that boosts productivity, income, and demand. It includes measures to boost investments, strengthen connections to the global economy, scaling back of regulations, and maintainenance of macroeconomic stability.

Then there's the presence of large, competitive firms investing in assets, R&D and job training, which create spillover effects that benefit smaller firms. Companies like Alibaba Group, for instance, have been helping smaller Chinese firms expand their exports by providing guarantees for importers.

A Sample of China's, India's, and Korea's Large Corporations Trading In US Exchanges

Source: Finance.yahoo.com

And there is fierce competition and contested leadership at home. "Less than half (45 percent) of firms that reach the top quintile of economic profit generation manage to stay there for a decade, compared with 62 percent in high-income economies, a consistent pattern across eight sectors," says the McKinsey study.

This sort of Schumpeterian regime helps domestic companies develop the "muscle" to compete in the global market.

One more: innovation associated with competition and contested leadership.

The large companies of these countries "derive 56 percent of their revenue from new products and services, eight percentage points more than advanced economy peers, and are 27 percentage points more likely to prioritize growth abroad," according to the same study.

Early on, some of these policies helped emerging economies take the leap from a "traditional" to a "transitional society," along Rostow's typical stages of growth. Others have been helping these economies take the leap from a "transitional society," to a "take-off society" and begin their drive to "technological maturity."

Innovation, for instance, has helped South Korea deal with the "Lewis Point," and the "Middle Income Trap," and march towards "technological maturity," and "high mass consumption."

I'm Professor and Chair of the Department of Economics at LIU Post in New York. I also teach at Columbia University. I've published several articles in professional journals and magazines, including Barron's, The New York Times, Japan Times, Newsday, Plain Dealer, Edge Singa...

My recent book The Ten Golden Rules Of Leadership is published by AMACOM, and can be found here.

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18 Emerging Economies Lifted A Billion People Out Of Extreme Poverty -- What They Did Right?

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Chinese and Malaysians are no longer poor. Indians, Ethiopians, and Vietnamese are still poor, but not as poor as they were 20 years ago. Singaporeans are as rich as Americans, and South Koreans are catching up. The reason? Sustained economic growth that surpassed population growth, lifting per capita GDP.

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Citizen's Information

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Development plans Local authority development plans are the blueprints for the planning and development of local areas. This document is in: Housing >Planning permission

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UN goals in an Irish context

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Irish Local Development Network website

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Irish Local Development Network - Irish Local Development Network

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Irish Local Development Network page of the Irish Local Development Network site.

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Standard of living in developing countries

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This page surveys information about quality of life in the developing world. The purpose is primarily to answer the question, "If a donor's funds save a live, what sort of life is saved?"

We make no attempt to fully convey what life is like; instead, we focus on what facts are available from relatively broad, large-sample, plausibly representative studies. We restrict ourselves to basic questions such as "What health problems are common and how common are they?", or "What problems do people in the developing world generally list as particularly important?"

For someone seeking a more qualitative (and less representative) picture, we suggest a visit to the developing world.

Summary

Self-reported life satisfaction: People in poor countries report that they are on average less satisfied with their lives than people in rich countries. The average resident of a low-income country rated their satisfaction as 4.3 using a subjective 1-10 scale, while the average was 6.7 among residents of G8 countries. We interpret this as a large satisfaction gap.

Incomes: A large proportion of the population in developing countries live on under &dollar;1 or &dollar;2 per day. The poor spend a large proportion of their incomes on food, may lack access to basic infrastructure, and own few productive assets. However, they do make consumption choices that involve spending on things other than food and use a variety of instruments to manage erratic income streams. Ownership of televisions and radios and access to electricity and sanitation varies widely.

Mortality: On one hand, people in Sub-Saharan Africa are much worse off, and much more likely to die prematurely, than people in wealthier parts of the world. On the other hand, those who live past the age of 5 have strong chances of living to age 60 or so; saving a life even from a single cause of death means saving a person who is likely to live quite a while longer.

Morbidity: A third of children under five in developing countries show evidence of long-term malnutrition. Malnutrition can cause low energy, diarrhea, anemia, hypothyroidism, poor vision, and pneumonia, as well as increased susceptibility to many other diseases. Prevalence of parasitic worm infection is very high in many poor regions. Malaria causes frequent sickness among children under 5, who average over 4 days of sickness with the disease per year.

Development Priorities: Sub-Saharan Africans rank reducing poverty and hunger as the two most pressing Millennium Development Goals. Health goals are also prioritized.

Income and self-reported well-being

Are people in poor countries less satisfied with their lives?

The Gallup World Poll asks a representative sample of people from 132 countries to answer questions about their well-being. Examples include asking respondents to rank their life satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10 and to answer the question "are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your personal health?" This data has been used to look at the relationship between level of economic development (income, health status, etc.) and self-reported well-being. 1

The 2006 Gallup World Poll data shows a positive correlation between per capita income in a country and average self-reported life satisfaction. One report on the World Poll data concluded, " high-income countries have greater life satisfaction than low-income countries...there is no evidence that the cross-country effects of greater income fade out or vanish as countries increase their income." 2

In the chart below, average life satisfaction (as measured by the Gallup World Poll) is plotted against income for the 38 of the 43 low-income economies (as classified by the World Bank) 3 for which World Poll data is available, as well as for the members of the G8. 4 Relatively high-income countries report satisfaction levels between 6 and 8 (on a scale from 0 to 10); low-income countries report satisfaction levels between 3 and 5.5.

The difference between satisfaction in the average low-income country and the average G8 country is about 2.4, or a little less than a quarter of the scale (which ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 representing the worst possible life and 10 representing the best possible life).

Income and assets

Global poverty rates

Poverty rates have been decreasing in many parts of the world, but the number of people living below the international poverty line remains high, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. 5 Data on the number of people living on less than &dollar;1.25 per day (the international standard of extreme poverty) 6 and on less than &dollar;2.00 per day (another international poverty benchmark) is based on dissimilar national studies from a limited number of countries, 7 and thus should be approached with caution. Recent World Bank data estimates the number of people living on under &dollar;1.25 a day at about 1.4 billion worldwide. 8 About half of Sub-Saharan Africans live on under &dollar;1.25 a day. 9 Many more live just above this line. Over 2.5 billion people live on less than &dollar;2 a day, with nearly three-quarters of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa falling into this category. 10 (Note: These figures are calculated for purchasing power parity (PPP), meaning that someone earning "&dollar;2 a day" does not literally earn this much but the equivalent of what 2 U.S. dollars could buy in the United States. 11)

What does it mean to live on under 1 or 2 dollars per day?

Most of the points below are taken from analysis by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of survey data from 13 countries. 12 We also consider information from Portfolios of the Poor, 13 which tracked the financial lives of over 250 households in 3 countries at a high level of detail.

Most of income is spent on food. People living on less than &dollar;1 or &dollar;2 per day reported spending a large proportion (between 55 and 80%) of their incomes on food. The proportion of income spent on food was not substantially different between the under &dollar;1 and under &dollar;2 per day groups.

There is little ownership of "productive assets." People living on under &dollar;1 a day generally reported owning few "productive" assets such as bicycles, sewing machines, phones, or tractors, though in some areas a large proportion of poor households own small plots of land.

Varying ownership of TV and radios. Ownership of non-productive assets also varied widely across countries and between urban and rural areas. In Tanzania, for example, almost no one living on under &dollar;1 a day reported owning a television, while 57% of those living on the same (adjusted) income in Hyderabad, India owned one. Rates of radio ownership were higher than those for television. About 70% of those living on under &dollar;1 a day in Peru, South Africa, and Nicaragua own radios, and in several other places ownership rates were over 40%.

Varying access to electricity, water and sanitation. The poor often lacked access to basic infrastructure, and as with assets, there was large variability among households around the world. In Mexico and Indonesia, for example, electricity access was nearly universal, but in-house tap water and ownership of a toilet or latrine were far less prevalent in Indonesia (data for Mexico not available). In Tanzania, the pattern was quite different: nearly every poor household owned a toilet and very few had access to electricity or in-house tap water.

A poor urban community in Cape Town, South Africa with access to electricity but without household latrines or in-house tap water.

Poor health. The poor reported often being sick. Among the surveys cited by Banerjee and Duflo (2006), no surveys yielded an average 'percent of household members sick' (in the month before the survey) of below 10%, and many reported rates above 25%.

Multiple occupations. Banerjee and Duflo (2006) also looked into how the poor earn their incomes. One pattern they found in many parts of the world was the tendency of the poor to engage in multiple occupations. Common occupations were running very small businesses, small-plot agriculture, and day labor. The authors argue that by spreading themselves across a variety of occupations and operating their businesses at such small scales, the poor miss out on gains from specialization and scale economies. They believe that this poverty-perpetuating behavior comes from the desire of the poor to minimize risk as well as their inability to raise the capital needed to operate more efficiently.

Unpredictability and risk. Banerjee and Duflo (2007) argue that what often separates the 'middle class' (which they define as living on between &dollar;2 and &dollar;10 per day) from the poor in developing countries are steady well-paying jobs, not greater success at running small businesses. Banerjee and Duflo hypothesize that more reliable income flows may be the reason the middle class invest more of their income in the future than the poor do. (However, we note that it is also possible that, to some degree, people who are more future-oriented in general are the same people who end up with higher incomes.)
Portfolios of the Poor suggests that in addition to having small incomes, the poor often have irregular and unpredictable incomes. 25 The book reports on Collins, et al.'s studies of how the poor in India, Bangladesh, and South Africa manage the fact that "the reality of living on two dollars a day is that you don't literally earn that sum each day." 26

Mortality and Morbidity: what are the major health problems in the developing world?

On one hand, people in low-income countries are much worse off, and much more likely to die prematurely, than people in wealthier parts of the world. On the other hand, it's important to note that those who live past age 5 have strong chances of living to age ~60; saving a life from even a single cause of death means saving a person who is likely to live significantly longer. 27

Children under 5 in low-income countries primarily die of preventable and treatable diseases such as malaria, respiratory infections, diarrhea, perinatal conditions, measles, and HIV/AIDS. Between ages 5 and 60, the major causes of death in low-income countries (relative to higher-income countries) are HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and maternal mortality (i.e., deaths in childbirth). After age 60, there are large differences in the mortality rates for many of the same causes of death that affect those under 5, as well as for many conditions that require advanced medical attention (heart disease, cancer, diabetes). 28

The table below shows the differences between low-income and high-income countries, in terms of deaths per 1,000, by age range and cause of death. It is color-coded: yellow squares represent causes of death for which mortality rates are greater in low-income countries by at least 0.5 deaths per 1,000 people, orange squares represent causes of death for which mortality rates are greater in low-income countries by at least 1 deaths per 1,000 people), and red squares represent causes of death for which mortality rates are greater in low-income countries by at least 2.5 deaths per 1,000 people. 29

Note that conditions vary within the developing world. Mortality rates for many causes are higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in the group of low-income countries (which includes some highly populous Asian countries, such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh). For more information, see our discussion of life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Non-fatal health problems

Household surveys of those living on under &dollar;1 or &dollar;2 per day show that the poor are often sick. In the surveys cited by Banerjee and Duflo (2006), in every country for which data was available an average of over 10% of households reported at least one member needed to see a doctor in the month prior to the survey. In many areas the average exceeded 25%; parts of India, Mexico, and Nicaragua had averages above 35%. 30 Here we do not discuss all health problems in detail, but we present three prevalent conditions (malnutrition, parasitic worms, and malaria) which are both direct causes of symptoms and risk factors for other conditions. In addition, we present data on the prevalence of a selection of health problems that are common in low-income countries and compare prevalence rates in these countries to rates in high-income countries.

Malnutrition is a widespread problem in the developing world. It is estimated that in 2000-2002, over 800 million people in the developing world were undernourished (insufficient energy intake), 31 and 2 billion are micronutrient deficient. 32 In 2005, approximately 32% of children under five in developing countries were stunted (had a height-for age that was more than two standard deviations below the global average), which likely reflects chronic undernutrition throughout life. 33 Malnourishment may be both caused by disease (such as parasitic worms) and increase susceptibility to disease. 34 Lacking certain nutrients has been associated with a wide range of health problems including low energy, diarrhea, anemia, hypothyroidism, poor vision, and pneumonia. 35 We do not know how common or severe these symptoms generally are among malnourished people.

Malnutrition is sometimes associated with infection with parasitic worms. 36 It is estimated that there are more than 1.2 billion roundworm infections globally, ~700-800 million infections with each hookworm and whipworm, and 250 million infections with schistosomiasis. 37 While most infections do not cause symptoms, 38 heavy worm infection can cause anemia, dysentery, and growth retardation. 39 In the long run, worm infection "impair[s] physical and mental growth in childhood, thwart[s] educational advancement, and hinder[s] economic development." 40 Death from worm infection can occur, but is fairly rare. 41 (More on specific types of infections at our discussion of schistosomiasis and our discussion of soil-transmitted helminths.)

Another major cause of disability and suffering is malaria. The Disease Control Priorities Project estimates that there were 213 million cases of malaria in 2000, resulting in over 1.1 million deaths. 42 This means that while malaria is a leading cause of death, the vast majority of cases are not fatal, but do cause suffering and disability. Like many other diseases, risk of malaria infection and complications are increased by malnutrition. 43 As can be seen in the chart here, children under five average over 4 days of sickness with malaria per year, and older children fall sick every 2-3 years for an average of 2.3 days. Uncomplicated malaria is characterized by fever, headaches, and nausea. 44 Severe malaria can cause cognitive impairment, seizures, coma, respiratory distress, and heart problems. 45

Other conditions. The table below compares prevalence rates for a selection of additional common causes of morbidity in low-income countries. Prevalence rates in high-income countries and for HIV/AIDS are included for comparison purposes.

While prevalence rates are generally higher in low-income than in high-income countries (except for asthma and hearing loss), these conditions, aside from anemia and schistosomiasis, are rare across low-income countries. For many of the infectious conditions, endemic areas may exist where large proportions of the population suffer from the disease, but the average person in the developing world is unlikely to be suffering from these diseases. 46

What problems do people in the developing world believe are most pressing?

In 2006, the Gallup World Poll asked a representative sample from 26 Sub-Saharan Africa countries to rank the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in order of importance to them. 56 The MDGs are a set of targets established by the United Nations in 2000 on a range of human development goals including poverty, education, health, gender equality, and the environment. 57 Respondents consistently ranked reducing poverty and reducing hunger as the two most important goals. 58 Health goals followed the top two, with 'Reducing the spread of HIV' ranking third and reducing under five mortality, maternal mortality and 'Reducing the spread of malaria and TB' coming in at 5, 6, and 8, respectively, out of a total of 12 goals. One argument for why health goals are not ranked higher than they are, argued by Deaton (2008), is that Africans report being more satisfied with their health than we might expect because they are more used to being sick. 59
Each respondent was asked to rank order six of the twelve goals. A value of 1 was assigned to the top-ranked goal, through 6 for the lowest-ranked goal. Thus the averages below fall in the range of 1 to 6.
The youth-focused goals of 'Providing more jobs for youths' and 'Achieving primary education for all' were also considered important by many respondents and were ranked 4 and 7, respectively. The goals of improving access to clean water and sanitation, achieving gender equality, and increasing access to new technology were least important to those surveyed. 60

Millennium Development Goal

Weighted Average Score

Reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS

3.05

Providing more jobs for youth

3.17

Reducing the death rate among children under five

3.34

Reducing the number of women dying during childbirth

3.38

Achieving primary education for all

3.62

Reducing the spread of malaria and TB

3.64

Improving access to safe drinking water

3.75

Improving access to sanitation facilities

4.09

Achieving gender equality and empowering women

4.38

Providing access to new technology

4.65

There were few differences in how men and women, urban and rural dwellers, employed and unemployed adults, or different age and education cohorts ranked the goals. 61 Rankings did vary across countries and regions, but reducing hunger and poverty were the top two goals for all but 6 of the 26 countries polled. Of these six, four were Southern African countries where HIV prevalence is very high; all four ranked 'Reducing the spread of HIV' as their top priority. Kenya and Uganda also ranked this goal in their top two. Larger differences between countries were seen in rankings of lower priority goals. 62

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Standard of Living in the Developing World | GiveWell

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