The Third World, Effects And Solutions

The Third World is a name used to refer to a larger group of countries to distinguish them from the rest of the world. Like all labels it  has to be used carefully, not least because its meaning has changed with time.

during the 1960s it became customary to divide the world into three major groups and to call them the first, second and third Worlds. the countries of Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan belonged to the so-called First World. They had capitalist economics , and were industrialized , wealthy and powerful. The communist countries of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, with their centralized and state-run economies where known as the Second World. Mostly the African continent was referred to as the Third World.

Most third world countries had been colonies of the Most powerful European nation during the entire first centuries. Although now independent, they are forced to rely on the patronage and aid of former colonial powers or more recently formed powerful nations. However, with the huge increase in the demand for oil after the shift in the second world war , and the shift in the production to countries such as Saudi Arabia ,and Kuwait in the middle east, Libya and Nigeria in Africa and Venezuela in Latin America , thew economic power of the world shifted a little . During the 1970s, these oil producing and exporting countries became very wealthy and economically powerful, and it made little sense to group them with other countries in the Third World, who remained desprately poor. In these current times the pattern  of crude oil has rapidly subsided yet, these countries who arenow member of OPEC can still be distinguished from others by having this mineral resource.

changes has also taken place in the Third World countries. There has been some dramatic industrialization in the western pacific countries of Taiwan , South Korea, Singapore, as well as  Latin American countries such as Mexico and Brazil although there still remain a great deal of poverty in these countries including problems of enormous international debt, they are much better than the reminder of those countries that make up the Third World. In 1984 the United Nation identified  thirty-six least developed countries known as the 'poorest of the poor'. This list include twenty-six LLD-Cs in Africa ,eight in Asia, one in the Pacific and one in the Caribbean.

One measure of the wealth or poverty of an area or country is the amount of illness and disease suffered by its people. Illness can range from a general weakness and fatigue to crippling disease and premature death. Sick people are unable to contribute productively to society. In that sense, if an environment leads to a great deal of ill-health  and disease it is said to be a contribution of the lack of economic activity and a lowering in the quality of life.

                    MAJOR ISSUES AFFECTING  THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES 

Well more than a quarter of the inhabitants of the so called third world countries still have nothing to live on. Almost one out of every five person, out of the 1.2 billion men, women and children live way below the line of poverty surviving on the equivalent of less, than a dollar a day. Half the people in the world are trying or just manage to survive below the poverty level of two dollars a day. Around 824 million people go hungry or have a very scarce food supply, another 500 million of them suffer serious malnutrition. These facts are only the tip of the iceberg, if I were to continue mentioning each and every stat here in this article, I would probably grow old and die, by the time I finish or may even have a couple left for my descendants to type on.

What I am trying to say is, problems in our lives, every little thing we assume to be the end of the world is literally nothing, zero, just zip… in comparison to what the people in the developing countries or, so to say, the Third World Countries as our Scholars and Journalists like to refer to. Even though no one will ever be bothered, we know; we still have here the top 10 most interesting and probably alien-sounding facts about the Third World Countries.

1. Poverty

poverty third world country

Poverty is definitely one of the skeletal reasons of why third world countries are called third world countries. If people weren’t poor, they would live well above the poverty line, that simple, but what exactly is Poverty? You could be wondering. Well as per UN standards I believe, poverty means living on $2.50 a whole day and extreme poverty is living on a $1.25 or less. Around 1 billion of these people are innocent little children, infants. According to the UN approx. 22,000 children die each day in these countries due to poverty.

2. Drinking Water

drinking water third world country problem

Ever been in a situation when you were really thirsty and didn’t have any water around you? At least not drinkable water; what would have you done? Probably run down to the nearest store and get a bottle mineral water and quench your ever so unbearable thirst. Well, imagine feeling thirsty and not having any water at all, not around you, not anywhere. No taps, no department stores, no pools, no lakes, not even a river; just the thought of it suffocates you, doesn’t it? More than a billion people do not have adequate access to clean drinking water and estimate 400 million of these are children again.

3. No Electricity Supply

electricity problem in third world country

A quarter or more of the entire human population lives without electricity in pitch black darkness as the night falls, along with the eternal darkness that overshadows their fates. That is around 1.6 billion people who do not know something like electricity exists. They are technically still living in Stone Age, no computers, no internet, no appliances, just nothing.

4. Agriculture

agriculture problem in third world country

More than half the population of all the developing nations in the world depends on Agriculture or farming for survival and for at least two meals a day. That is almost 75 percent of the world’s poorest people, approx. 1.4 billion women, children and men. However, the even more intriguing fact is that 50 percent of hungry people are farming families. A lot of internationally acclaimed projects are carried out every year in order to train and empower these people from such countries to at least to help them learn to live off Agriculture.

5. HIV/AIDS and Other Diseases

hiv problem in third world country

HIV is on the verge of becoming the greatest epidemic some of the third world countries have ever seen. Around 40 million people are living with Aids. 65 percent out of them are women. According to a research about 90 percent of all children and 60 percent of all women affected by HIV are living in the sub-Saharan Africa. About other diseases, well more than 11 million children die each year from preventable health issues such as malaria, diarrhea and pneumonia.

6. Health Care

health problem third world country

Women, children and men that die every year just because of lack of preventable health care services seem only to be increasing. More than 800 million people have no access to health care, and that’s just a rough calculation, there might be hundreds of thousands not even recorded. As health care isn’t readily available everywhere in the world, this is why most of the entire world’s population dies of silly preventable diseases like common cold and diarrhea.

7. War

war in third world country

Most of the countries that fall in the third world category or the ones that are developing are either facing heavy duty corruption or buried deep under the ashes of war. Civil wars, cold wars, war on religion and so on, are fought no matter how low or pitiful the country’s condition, you might be wondering how? Well it just happens to be the policy of certain country’s to help these third world countries at the time of war for arms and ammunition and medic and supplies for the army just so they could live through the war and pay an even huger amount of debt. Something really inhumane, isn’t it? Well countries like the US, China, Russia have these ill-traits of supporting war.

8. Pollution

pollution problem in third world country

Let’s suppose, if one of the countries in the third world is barely hanging on to life overcoming all the problems mentioned above and trying to get through this journey of life, it is however bothered with the nuisance problem of pollution. Pollution as we’ve been studying since 1st grade is destroying our environment and our place of habitat, still nobody seems to be bothered enough, at least none of the industrialized countries with their nuclear toxic power plants seem to be. Air, water or earth pollution is threatening the lives of, not only people in the third world; but everyone on this planet.

9. Social and Cultural Exclusion

social and cultural exclusion

Again, a third world country or not social exclusion is basically the state where people lose their self-confidence and bury themselves into deeper and deeper wretched poverty along with greater isolation. With no social and cultural framework, a country can go haywire due to complete loss of morals and ethics from the society. Free will, as great as a gift it is considered to be, will prove to be the worst nightmare for any third world country. No wonder countries like Sierra Leone, Colombia are still in existence.

10. Hunger

hunger in third world country

More than 870 million people of the entire third world population have no food to eat or a very precarious food supply i.e. more than the population of the US and the European Union combined. Pretty much the entire undernourished population of the world lives in third world countries, like Africa, Somalia and many more, some even unheard of. 60 percent of these hungry are women, 50 percent of pregnant women in developing countries lack proper maternal care, resulting in over 300,000 maternal deaths annually from childbirth. A third of all childhood death in sub-Saharan Africa is caused by hunger related diseases, around 2.6 million deaths per year, one child every five seconds.

               TEN POSSIBLE SOLUTION FOR ALLEVIATING CRISES IN THE THIRD WORLD

solutions to poverty

WORLD INDEX — To many, the idea of finding solutions to poverty is a big and seemingly impossible undertaking, considering that 1.4 billion people in developing countries live on less than $1.25 a day. Another 842 million people, or one in eight people, do not have enough to eat, today. Almost two billion people lack access to clean water and 22,000 children die each day due to conditions of poverty.

These kinds of statistics are discouraging. What hope is there for poverty reduction? Are there solutions to poverty, and if so, what are they?

Well as a young Liberian who is committed to the growth and development of the Third World that which my country is a part of (Liberia), I have written these 10 possible solutions to help alleviate poverty  and sustain growth , development and security. I therefore think poverty can be radically reduced, if not completely eradicated.

 Here are 10 extremely effective solutions to poverty to illustrate that ending poverty is not impossible.

1. Creating Good Jobs

solutions to poverty

Creating jobs, both in Liberia and abroad, is a great way to reduce poverty. When people have jobs, they have income, and when people have income, they can more easily get themselves out of poverty. The U.N. says that “unemployment and underemployment lies at the core of poverty. For the poor, labor is often the only asset they can use to improve their well-being.”

Source: U.N. Poverty

2. Educating Women

solutions to poverty

The education of girls and women impacts the rest of the societies in which these girls and women live. A woman’s degree of education is linked to the age at which she marries and has children, to her health and diseases, to her economic opportunities, to her social standing, and to her general future well-being. Educating girls and women can reduce poverty in developing nations, as well as in extremely poor countries.

Source: Reuters

Photo: Foundation Center

3. Raising Wages

solutions to poverty

The Republic of Liberia hasn’t raised its minimum wage since it was billed during the tenure of Ex President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf . Because of this, right now, “A full-time worker with two children earning the minimum wage will still raise his or her family in poverty.” And this is an issue in almost every other country, especially in under developed nations. Raising the minimum wages could potentially increase the health and well-being of millions with in any specific region.

Source: American Progress

Photo: Online Actions

4. Micro-financing

solutions to poverty

Micro-finance is defined as the “supply of loans, savings, and other basic financial services to the poor.” Right now, only about 10 percent of the global population has access to traditional banking, according to the Gates Foundation. However, using micro-finance, people who are unemployed or who have a low income could get small loans to help them become self-sufficient. An organization called Kiva has provided more than $329 million to 786,000 borrowers, with a repayment rate of 98.97%. Micro-finance is a promising way to alleviate poverty.

Sources: Kiva

5. Gender Equality

solutions to poverty

As the U.N. Development Program says, “when women have equal access to education, and go on to participate fully in business and economic decision-making, they are a key driving force against poverty.” Not only this, but better gender equality raises household incomes and “translates into better prospects and greater well-being of children,” which is a smart way to reduce the poverty for future generations as well as our own.

Source: U.N. Development Program

6. Transparency in Government Spending

solutions to poverty

Creating transparency in government spending of money can help reduce corruption in governments. When governments are accountable to their citizens for their action, or inaction, in different areas of the federal budget, the citizens will be able to accurately assess how well their leaders are leading their country. Also, it allows citizens to see if money is being taken away from poverty-reduction plans and into the pockets of their leaders, which could be a cause of a stagnant economy or job market.

7. Canceling National Debts

solutions to poverty

As mentioned by Share the World’s Resources, “It is internationally recognized that the debt burden of the world’s poorest, most indebted countries has to be tackled if they are to set themselves on a path of sustainable growth, development, and poverty reduction.” This is why the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have created the Initiative for Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HI-PCs). The initiative helps with the debt relief to currently 23 poor countries (mostly in Africa) that are committed to eradicating poverty. There have been successes in a few countries thus far, and this initiative can help governments “get back on their feet” so that they can focus on developing for the future instead of trying to pay back what was spent in the past.

Source: Share the World’s Resources, International Monetary Fund

8. Access to Healthcare

solutions to poverty

The President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, says that he believes “universal health insurance coverage in all countries can help achieve a goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030.” He says that because about 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty every year by having to spend money on health issues, and that because health issues push about another 150 million into severe financial hardship, universal health insurance could greatly relieve poverty, globally.

Sources: Business-week

9. Access to Clean Water and Sanitation

solutions to poverty

The World Bank says that access to clean water and sanitation is “one of the most cost-effective development interventions, and is critical for reducing poverty.” The reasons for this are that women can use the time that they would have spent fetching water to work and produce more, agricultural production could increase, and the costs of services and goods could go down. Not only that, but because diseases caused by unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation cause “the most significant child health problems worldwide,” having access to clean water could significantly lower the healthcare burden for many of these many children.

Source: World Bank

10. Nutrition, Especially in Infants

solutions to poverty

Adequate nutrition is an incredibly important indicator of a person’s ability to get out of poverty, later in life. Those who are malnourished from the time of conception to 24 months, postpartum “have a higher risk of lifelong physical and mental disability.” Because of this, they are “often trapped in poverty,” and are not able to make the full contribution to the “social and economic development of their households and communities, as adults.”

Sources: The Hunger Project

These 10 solutions to poverty illustrate that while there is a difficult road ahead, there is a viable path forward in pursuit of alleviating global poverty and creating a world in which all people can prosper.

Final Conclusion:

It is really surprising how things go around in this small Earth of ours. On one hand we have a small handful of people and their families get the entire resources and facilities and all the good that this world has to offer, whereas more than half of the world’s population is dying because of their fate’s brutality on their lives and the other three quarters are barely managing to keep it up and dying every second of the day, not living life the way it was meant to be lived i.e. abundantly; only in their desperate hopes to create a secure and prosperous lives for their little ones. Being aware about all this and still reading about how 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of all the water and none of the 12 percent lies in the developing nations, and how less than $40 billion is only required to offer basic education, clean water, and sanitation, reproductive health care for women, and basic health and nutrition to every person in every single developing country; just frustrates us to the core, it does, maybe for a little while, but it surely boils our blood up, however it doesn’t mean we will ever be able to do anything about it, will we? Well that's the biggest question one will always ask.  I hope some public policy expert can recognize these possible solutions as listed by me, a student writer and advocate , Isaac-tom G. Seeblee Jr to help in the eradication of poverty from their country.

                                  About the Author

Isaac-tom G. Seeblee Jr is a Liberian , hailed from the southeastern region, a student of the African Methodist Episcopal University pursuing undergraduate studies in Administration and Finance , a public certified insurer, an advocate and an emerging public policy expert.

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