2. • a scarcity of a certain amount of material
possessions or money; for example: a lack of basic
human needs like:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Food
Water
Proper sanitation
Clothing
Shelter
Health care
Education
What is poverty?
3. • After reforms in the ‘70s, China
underwent massive economic
growth
• Overall, poverty has decreased in
the last few decades
• However, much of that decrease is
in urban areas and not in rural
areas
• People who live in cities in China
make three times higher incomes
than those in rural areas
• The most vulnerable groups in
rural parts of China are
women, children, and the
elderly, as well as ethnic minorities
who live in remote mountainous
areas.
China
Top: rural school in China; Bottom:
school in Beijing
4. • Most of those who live outside of cities in China work in
agriculture, which does not make much money
• Those in rural areas also are more likely to face extreme
weather conditions, like floods and droughts
• Reliance on traditional farming techniques leaves these
populations vulnerable
• Basic infrastructure
(food, water, sanitation, transportation) is lacking in rural
areas of China
• Lacking of basic skills and education leaves rural citizens
unprepared in life
Reasons for Poverty in China
5. • Poverty in South Korea is infrequent
• Those who are poor are more often the elderly
• In traditional Korean culture, the elderly relied on their families to take care
of them as they age
• This practice is changing as Korean families spend money on other things
• The elderly in South Korea are therefore made to work in jobs well into
their 70s
South Korea
6. • People generally assume that all
Japanese are well-off and
prosperous, when actually, the
percentage of those in poverty
has recently increased to 15%
(same as the US).
• The Japanese media rarely
reports anything about poverty in
Japan, which means that no one
really does anything about it.
• If a Japanese person is
experiencing poverty, it is very
taboo to talk about it
Japan
Satomi Sato works mornings
making boxed lunches. She said
her family's difficulties began in
the late 1990s, when the
economic slide worsened on the
island of Hokkaido, as it did
across much of rural Japan.
