What Makes Countries Rich or Poor?

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Infrastructural development
Natural resources
Income level
Food and nutrition
Population growth rate
Political instability
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The every day indulgence of any country determines its categorisation as either poor or rich. Many nations especially from Europe and America have well established systems of governance, which allow them to be categorised as rich. This paper gives the factors that determine the categorisation of a nation as either poor or rich.

It outlines issues like infrastructure, availability of natural resources, and income levels, amongst others as the factors that distinguish the richer nations from the poor ones. Richard, Hercot, Ouedraogo, Delvaux, Samake, Van Olmen, Conombo, Hammonds, and Vandermoortele (2011, p. 43) reveal that poverty is the central focus of all the nations.

Any nation that wishes to be rich has to address issues like “Poverty, health, education, nutrition, gender equality and the environment” (Gyorkos, Joseph & Casapia 2009, p 645). Otherwise, being rich continues to be a dream that can never be realized.

Infrastructural development

The infrastructure of any country is a pivotal point that determines the country’s development level. Countries with fully developed infrastructure are considered richer since the developed infrastructure present ensures continual supply of human wants to the population.

As Kohler and De Haan (2010, p 103) confirm, “No country has managed to reduce poverty without increasing the use of infrastructure”. On the contrary, the infrastructurally struggling countries are majorly drawn from the developing nations. The infrastructures in this case include health provision, education and transport and communication facilities among other infrastructural developments.

Rich countries have well developed health provision facilities. Health provision encompasses the well-developed health insurance schemes that enable better provision of health facilities to the population without discrimination. Racine, Proctor, and Jewell (2012, p. 90) suggest health service as a key indicator of development.

In most of the poverty-stricken countries, health provision has been a nightmare: a devil fought by crocked tools. The richer countries like the United States of America have invested heavily in the provision of health. This has included the personnel development through the training of doctors.

The poverty-stricken countries have not been able to train enough doctors for the provision of health facilities to the ever-increasing population in the foresaid countries. The establishment of health facilities has been poorly established and maintained in the developing countries especially those found in the African continent.

The literacy level in the poor nations is something worth mentioning. Poor countries have not been able to establish good education systems to counter the issue of literacy. With the high population, the countries found in the poverty-stricken continents especially in Africa have only been able to provide education facilities to a small group of their entire population.

The schools that were established earlier on have not been maintained well to the standards they were intended. The issue of literacy has contributed strongly to the decrease in the personnel in these particular nations. Therefore, the line between poor and rich nations is tone depending entirely on the literacy levels.

Technological advancement acts as a major contributor of the development of countries. The developed countries have well established and developed technology systems that contribute majorly to the provision of essential services. The poor nations have not been able to invest heavily in the technological development.

This has instead hindered the provision of essential services to the population. Poverty, according to Awojobi (2011, p. 160), has been the technological incapacity of the nations. Communication systems depend entirely on technological advancement. Developed countries have invested well in this sector by ensuring that the transport sector is well established.

Communication systems in the developed countries are well established compared to the ones found in the developing countries, which are poorly developed. This has hindered the circulation of information in the developing countries. The transport sector in the developing countries is badly off. The road transport in the developing nations is very demanding compared to how the situation is in the developed nations.

In this sector, the distinctive line can be drawn between the richer countries, which have invested in the technological advancement, and the poor countries that have poor developed technological systems.

Natural resources

The distinction between the poor countries and the developed countries can be established considering the availability of the natural resources, as well as the extent of their exploitation. Nations with adequate natural resources are rich. The richer countries based on the availability of the resources depend majorly on the ability to extract the natural resources.

Nations that have been able to extract their natural resources have crossed the bridge: they are now considered developed. In this regard, “MPI introduces penalties for countries with unbalanced values” (De Munro, Mazziotta & Pareto 2011, p. 2). Natural resources may include the availability of geographical features, which are harnessed for tourism attraction. The developed nations have invested well in the technology.

This enables them to detect “the availability and extent of natural resources in their countries” (Marlier & Atkinson 2010, p. 286). Through government investment, nations develop strategies that assist them in extraction of the resources. Of late, some of the developing countries have been able to discover the availability of natural resources sitting within their territorial grounds.

The major distinction that comes out at this point is the speed at which developed countries are able to discover the natural resources in their countries and subsequent speed of extraction of the same in the developing nations.

Income level

There is a very big distinction between income levels in the developing nations compared to those in the developed nations. Developed nations, especially those in Europe and America, experience higher income levels compared to those in developing nations especially in the African continent. Most of the individuals especially in the African continent live below the dollar need a day.

Quintano Castellano and Punzo (2011, p. 94) suggest the manifestation of low insufficient well-being as low income. On the same ground, one-half of the world’s 6.5 inhabitants live on the equivalent of the one dollar a day. The poverty levels are very high with one quarter of the world presumed to live on the equivalence of less than a dollar in a day.

As Nolan and Whelan (2010, p. 305) point out, “poverty is rich in countries that rely on household income”. On the contrary, the individuals of the developed countries live much better. For instance, on average, people in the twenty richest countries earn about forty times much than those in the poorest twenty countries.

The rich countries are able to counter the issue of employment opportunities compared to the poor nations, which strive in the en-employment environment. The unemployment situations drive the poor nations to lower their standards of living especially in the hard economic situations.

The issue of low living standards has led to brain drain in the poor nations. The United Nation Development Program has estimated, according to its Human Development Index that, in 2010, the top richest countries were Norway, Australia, New Zealand, United States and Ireland all of which come from Europe and America.

With the same statistics, the poorest nations were Zimbabwe, Congo, Niger, Burundi and Mozambique. A close look reveals that the mentioned nations come from the African continent.

Food and nutrition

The distinction between the rich and poor nations can be attributed to their ability to feed their population. As Couch and Pirog (2010, p. 218) confirm, “Poverty thresholds and measures of available resources should be symmetric”. The developing nations are considered poor since they do not have well-established policies that can assist in countering the problem of food security.

Most of the populations from the developing nations feed on poor nutritious foods. This contributes heavily to the poor health of individuals from these nations. This is a clear indication that the difference between poor and richer countries can be based on the ability of the nation to provide good nutritious food to its population. However, in most cases, the poor nations are hit by famine.

Population growth rate

Population growth in most of the poverty-stricken nations is very high in relation to that of the richer nations. The richer nations have the ability to put in place mechanisms to counter the population growth. As observed by Niwemahoro, Musabanganji & Banamwana (2011, p. 169), “demographic pressure remains in the heart of strategy for a better living”.

The poor nations have not been able to initiate the programs that are geared towards family planning. This scenario has necessitated the ever-increasing population growth in these nations. Most nations in the African region have suffered the wrath of this, thus, affecting their gross domestic product.

Political instability

Political stability is a factor that distinguishes the richer nations from the poor nations. The richer nations have very strong political stability that initiates freedom among the citizens. Human rights “can lead to greater accountability” (Banik 2010 p. 34). The poor nations are characterised by the lack of freedom and oppression among its citizens. “Political and economic power fuels armed rebellion” (Marlier & Atkinson 2010, p. 286).

The media, as an institution, is established to keep checking on the government. Hence, its infringement means that the rotten in the government will go unchecked. The political stability acts as an attraction measure to the investments from other countries.

Nations hit by political instability do not encourage women and youth empowerment, which acts as a cornerstone to development. Garces-Ozanne (2011, p. 27) indicates, “Aids given to countries with poor policies have no impact”. In many instances, political instability has consequently led to security concerns in the nation, thus, affecting the foreign investment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, poverty levels in the country depend entirely on the practises and indulgences of that particular nation. Nations that have well established laws of government coupled with well-structured ways of managing their natural resources have developed and crossed the line of poverty. As it is confirmed, “poverty reduction is one of the most important global humanitarian challenges” (Carr, Kettle & Hoskins 2009, p. 87).

Osberg and Lian (2008, p. 419) suggest that the poverty line of one dollar a day indicates absolute deprivation. The political stability is wanting in the many poor nations. These are mostly found in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Political stability attracts foreign investors into the country.

References

Awojobi, O & Bein, M 2011, ‘Microfinancing for Poverty Reduction and Economic Development; a Case for Nigeria’, International Research Journal of Finance & Economics, vol. 1 no. 72, pp.159-168.

Banik, D 2010, ‘Support for human rights-based development: reflections on the Malawian experience’, International Journal of Human Rights, vol. 14 no. 1, pp.34-50.

Carr, R, Kettle, P, & Hoskins, A 2009, ‘Evaluating poverty-environment dynamics’, International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, vol. 16 no. 2, pp.87-93.

Couch, K & Pirog, M 2010, ‘Poverty measurement in the U.S., Europe, and developing countries’, Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, vol. 29 no. 2, pp.217-226.

De Munro, P, Mazziotta, M. & Pareto, A 2011, ‘Composite Indices of Development and Poverty: An Application to MDGs’, Social Indicators Research, vol. 104 no. 1, pp.1-18.

Garces-Ozanne, A 2011, ‘The Millennium Development Goals: Does aid Help?’, Journal of Developing Areas, vol. 44 no. 2, pp. 27-39.

Gyorkos, T, Joseph, S, & Casapía, M 2009, ‘Progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in a community of extreme poverty: local vs. national disparities in Peru’, Tropical Medicine & International Health, vol. 14 no. 3, pp. 645-652.

Kohler, M & De Haan, D 2010, ‘A Motivation for Energy based Poverty Indicators’, Perspectives of Innovations, Economics & Business, vol. 6 no. 3, pp. 103-107.

Marlier, E & Atkinson, A 2010, ‘Indicators of poverty and social exclusion in a global context’, Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, vol. 29 no. 2, pp. 285-304.

Niwemahoro, C, Musabanganji, E, & Banamwana, L 2011, ‘Fertility Preferences and Level of Family Planning in Rwanda: Case of Huye District’, Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics & Management Sciences, vol. 21 no. 21, pp. 34-9.

Nolan, B & Whelan, C 2010, ‘Using non-monetary deprivation indicators to analyze poverty and social exclusion: Lessons from Europe?’, Journal of Policy Analysis & Management, vol. 29 no. 2, pp.305-325.

Osberg, L & Kuan, X 2008, ‘How Should We Measure Poverty in a Changing World? Methodological Issues and Chinese Case Study’, Review of Development Economics, vol. 12 no. 2, pp.419-441.

Quintano, C, Castellano, R, & Punzo, G 2011, ‘Measuring poverty and living conditions in Italy through a combined analysis at a sub-national level’, Journal of Economic & Social Measurement, vol. 36 no. 2, pp.93-118.

Racine, L, Proctor, P, & Jewell, L 2012, ‘Putting the World as Classroom: An Application of the Inequalities Imagination Model in Nursing and Health Education’, Journal of Transcultural Nursing, vol. 23 no. 1, pp. 90-99.

Richard, F et al 2011, ‘Sub-Saharan Africa and the health MDGs: the need to move beyond the “quick impact” model’, Reproductive Health Matters, vol. 19 no. 38, pp.42-55.

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