7 Countries Where People Live In Extreme Poverty

BANGALORE: "Poverty" defined as an economic condition of lacking both money and basic necessities needed to successfully live, such as food, water, education, healthcare, and shelter. Lack of income security, economic stability and the predictability of one have continued means to meet basic needs all serve as absolute indicators of poverty. Although there has been a decline in people going to bed hungry since 1990, still more than 870 million go without food around the world.

Let's take a look at some countries, that have highest number of people going hungry as compiled by rediff:

1. Burundi

The assassination of the first ever democratically elected president and the sudden plunge of the economy back in 1993 have taken Burundi’s people to a rock bottom. They are not in a state of total recovery as of yet and also the increased violence inside the country is not helping the government pull this poverty stricken country back to its feet.

Out of the total population of above 95 lakhs, 81 percent are in poverty. Many of the people of this country live in refugee camps or have fled to other countries. Agriculture is their main source of income but this has had no luck for them since the country is stricken with drought.

2. Zambia

This country is in an epidemic of poverty, once known as a middle class economy is now in poverty and the world is crying for immediate uplifting of these people. Out of the total population, 74 percent of them are in poverty. This country unlike other African countries is not burdened by dictatorship, corruption or civil wars. 

The reason for poverty is connected to the decrease in copper price in the last decade. This country is in need of an immediate help with HIV/AIDS epidemic tearing the country apart as well.

3. Haiti

62 percent of Haiti is under poverty. Haiti has a population of 1 crore whereas Nigeria has population of over 16 crores.  Poverty in these two countries is seen in every day aspects of their lives, housing, educations, food, hospitals and employment. Haiti was also not long ago hit by one of the most deadly hurricane attacks and thus left the country in an even more devastated state.

4. Republic of Yemen

Yemen, officially known as the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country in Southwest Asia, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Poverty has affected 20 percent of the population in Yemen and is characterized by a high incidence of poverty in the rural sector, a multi-dimensional nature which encompasses both low expenditures and lack of access to basic services, and a low capacity by the public sector to deliver assistance to the poor.

It seems that Yemen can reduce poverty over the next several years if it improves the environment for private investment, follows sensible fiscal and monetary policies, and uses its oil revenues.

5. Chad

Chad officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest and Niger to the west. It seems that in this country nearly two-thirds of people live below the poverty line and the population remains among the worlds poorest.

The 2010 United Nations Human Development Index ranked Chad near the bottom, at 163 out of 169 countries. The World Bank has pulled out of programmes, because oil revenues are not being invested by the government into alleviating poverty.

6. Ethiopia

Ethiopia is one of the World's poorest countries. Out of a population of around 80 million people, 35 million people are living in abject poverty. In one of the world's poorest countries, where about 44 per cent of the population lives under the poverty line, more than 12 million people are chronically or at least periodically food insecure.
Most of them live in rural areas with agriculture as their main occupation. With 80 percent of Ethiopians dependent on agriculture as their main livelihood, severe arid conditions due to persistent lack of rainfall coupled with civil disputes have worsened Ethiopian poverty.

7. Comoros

Although the Comoros is a poor country, extreme manifestations of poverty such as famine or homelessness are rare. Limited employment opportunities due to slow economic growth contribute to a large extent to poverty in the Comoros.

The relatively high wages and low productivity levels have also contributed to increased poverty as the Comoros is not competitive in international markets. These high wages have constrained the growth of formal sector enterprises, with the number of formal sector employees growing by about 4 percent a year. This figure is above the population growth rate but not nearly enough to absorb a growing number of school dropouts.