Imagine not being able to afford the basic necessities needed in order to live? Imagine not knowing where to get a meal or where to have a safe place to sleep? For the estimated 1.3 billion people around the globe who live in the ranks of the poor, those are the very real issues faced on a daily basis (Singh). Governments and private organizations have been trying to reduce or eliminate poverty. But poverty still remains a widespread and gravely serious world problem. Therefore, the primary focus of the United Nations should be eradicating poverty because poverty is an issue that affects every country in some way and denies people decent or humane lives.
The main reason why the United Nations should focus on eradicating poverty is because, poverty negatively influences every country in some way or another. Although developing or third world nations are the countries with the most poverty problems, even countries with high standards of living such as the United States have to deal with poverty to some extent. Half of the world's population lives on less than $2 dollars a day; and a billion people survive on less than $1 a day (Unequally). These grim statistics show just how devastating poverty is to people all over the world. Poverty is very much a world issue. For example in Sierra Leone, an extremely poor African nation, 68% of its population lives below the poverty line (The Poorest). In Latin America, Colombia has 55% of its population living below the poverty line (The Poorest). And in Asia, where in 1996 Asia accounted for over two-thirds of the world's 1.3 billion poorest people (Encarta), the country of Cambodia, which is the fifth poorest country in the world, has 36% of its population living below the poverty line (The Poorest). Those countries are just a few examples of some of the world's poorest countries, but there are many more countries that have to deal with the terrible effects of poverty.
