Poverty Essay
Poverty is a serious problem in Hong Kong as there are 1.7 million people living under the poverty line set by the Hong Kong Government. The significance of studying poverty is to increase the awareness to the society. If people cannot sustain their lives under extreme poverty, it will cause many social problems such as crime and unhealthy babies.
Poverty consists of two types, that is, absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to the inability to afford the basic needs such as clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. Many of us think that this problem only happens in third world countries. However, this problem is existing in almost every single society in the world.
Defining poverty in one term "absolute" is inadequate. Moreover, it is difficult to define "necessity". In a modern society like Hong Kong, a mobile phone and a computer with internet is considered a necessity but in third world countries like India or Africa, this is not the case. Therefore, another concept 'relative poverty' is worthwhile to be considered. Relative poverty is the condition that people are treated unfairly with various inequalities. For example, some people are paid less than the others while this causes them to live under the normal circumstances in their particular society.
In this essay, I am going to discuss how the Hong Kong Government and US government have dealt with poverty and examine if they have successfully alleviated absolute poverty and realtive poverty. Health, education and shelter are the main aspects that I am going to analyze in this essay.
First of all, I am going to discuss the healthcare in Hong Kong. Health means that all citizens have access to healthcare and medical assistance such as seeing a doctor and having surgery. Healthcare has always been very expensive everywhere in the world, and just visiting a doctor once could be very hard for people living in poverty to afford. In 2010, the
Poverty consists of two types, that is, absolute poverty and relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to the inability to afford the basic needs such as clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. Many of us think that this problem only happens in third world countries. However, this problem is existing in almost every single society in the world.
Defining poverty in one term "absolute" is inadequate. Moreover, it is difficult to define "necessity". In a modern society like Hong Kong, a mobile phone and a computer with internet is considered a necessity but in third world countries like India or Africa, this is not the case. Therefore, another concept 'relative poverty' is worthwhile to be considered. Relative poverty is the condition that people are treated unfairly with various inequalities. For example, some people are paid less than the others while this causes them to live under the normal circumstances in their particular society.
In this essay, I am going to discuss how the Hong Kong Government and US government have dealt with poverty and examine if they have successfully alleviated absolute poverty and realtive poverty. Health, education and shelter are the main aspects that I am going to analyze in this essay.
First of all, I am going to discuss the healthcare in Hong Kong. Health means that all citizens have access to healthcare and medical assistance such as seeing a doctor and having surgery. Healthcare has always been very expensive everywhere in the world, and just visiting a doctor once could be very hard for people living in poverty to afford. In 2010, the