The Extent of Poverty

"Poverty in poor countries is more widespread than it is in rich nations such as the United States. The U.S. government officially classifies almost 13 percent of the population as poor. In low-income countries, however, most people live no better than the poor in the United States, and many are far worse 0ff. Death rates are the highest among the children in Africa, indicating that absolute poverty is the greatest there, where half the population is malnourished. In the world as a whole, at any given time, 15 percent of people--about 1 billion--suffer from chronic hunger, which leaves them less able to work and puts them at high risk of disease.
The typical adult in a rich nation such as the United States consumes about 3,500 calories a day, which is actually too much and leads to obesity and related health problems. The typical adult in a low-income country not only does more physical labor but consumes just 2,000 calories a day. the result is undernourishment: too little food or not enough of the right kinds of food.
In the ten minutes it takes you to read through this, about 300 people in the world who are sick and weakened from hunger will die. This amounts to about 40,000 people a day, or 15 million people each year. Clearly, easing world hunger is one of the most serious challenges facing humanity today." (Society: The Basics by John Macionis)

I read this the other day in my sociology 1010 textbook. How does it make you feel? It made my friend Arevik burst out in tears and her body shake. How about this next part?

"Death comes early in poor societies, where families lack adequate food, safe drinking water, secure housing, and access to medical care. Organizations fighting child poverty estimate that at least 100 million city children in poor countries beg, steal, sell sex, or work for drug gangs to provide income for their families. Such a life almost always means dropping out of school and puts children at high risk of disease and violence. Many girls, with little or no access to medical assistance, become pregnant, a case of children who cannot support themselves having children of their own.
Analysts estimate that another 100 million of the world's children leave their families altogether, sleeping and living on the streets as best they can or perhaps trying to migrate to the United States. Roughly half of all street children are found in Latin American cities sich as Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro, where half of all children grow up in poverty. Many people in the United States know these cities as exotic destinations, but they are also home to thousands of children living in makeshift huts, under bridges, or in alleyways (United Nations Development Programme, 2000; Collymore, 2002)."