A Comparative Analysis of a Social Problem (Essay Sample)

A Comparative Analysis of a Social Problem
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A Comparative Analysis of a Social Problem
Introduction
Poverty is a rooted social problem in many developing countries. It is estimated that more than one person in every five people globally lives in extreme poverty living with only less than $1.25 per day (Bhalla & Luo, 2013). Developing countries have and are still struggling to eradicate extreme poverty within their citizens. The absolute gap between the rich and the poor in these countries has been so wide giving these countries a lot of challenges in reducing that gap. Among the most affected countries are the two most populous nations in the world; India and China. These two countries have a combined population of over 30% of the total world population (Bhalla & Luo, 2013). The two countries have in the recent past made very broad steps in the economic development making them among the major economic giants in the world. This development has not been without challenges. Among the challenge that has been evolved with this development is the issue of social-economic parity.
The number of individual still in the extreme poverty in these nation remain immense. A lot of efforts need to be taken by the respective governments to counter this problem. The problem of poverty in these countries remain very critical to their effort to attain the global economic dominance. China has in the recent past be compared to the USA in term of global trade domination and economic wealth, and India has also be named as the next big thing in world economy (Shi, 2014). Having such high prospects of the global economic domination, these two countries then have no option but to tackle the issue of poverty in their countries. Poverty reduction in these two countries is also paramount as it also signifies the economics improvement in these nations. This paper will compare and contrast the magnitude of poverty in these two countries, it will also compare and contrast the efforts that have been put forward to eradicate the poverty in these nations
Extent/Magnitude of the Problem
Comparison.
In both India and China, the most affected population resides in the rural areas of these two nations. Rural-urban parity in China is estimated to be above 35% of the total countries wealth. The parity is a tread of a much concern to the government in China considering that China urban and rural population does not differ in that extend. In fact, it is estimated that more than 50% of the total China population resides in the rural areas (Shi, 2014). They engage in activities such as agriculture, forestry, fishing and animal husbandry that shows less level of productivity and income. Most of individual in the rural areas still have no proper access to education, basic social amenities like sanitation and medical cares. The inability of the government to provide these imperative social amenities has furthered the poverty in these regions. Hunger and lack of proper diet are also common issues in the rural region in China that add to the poverty scale in the country. It is estimated that more than 90% of the total poor population in China resides in the rural regions (Shi, 2014).
India, just like China, has most of its extreme poor individuals residing in the rural area. A total of 30% of the rural population lives in extreme poverty with less than $1.25 per day. The number is very high considering that at least 70% of the total India population resides in the rural areas (Panagariya et al, 2013). The rural poverty in India accounts for 77% of the total India poor population. Just like in China, the disparity between the urban and the rural total countries wealth is it high. In India, it is estimated that there is more than 45% parity in urban-rural wealth. The natural calamities in the rural India such as drought are the most contributors to the high rural poverty. There are constant hunger and lack of proper nutrition in these regions of the country. There is still lack of basic social amenities like health centers and education institution thus these regions has high illiteracy and a high level of disease infection and deaths. Most of the people who reside in the rural region do basic economic actives like agriculture that has fewer returns (Panagariya et al, 2013).
Another similarity in the poverty of these two nation is the most affected and venerable individual in the society. In both nations, women, elderly citizens, minorities like disabled and children are the most venerable individuals. In China, opportunities are mostly based in the urban areas, the most educated and the flexible person in the rural and other poverty affected areas, move to the urban areas to look for employment (Shi, 2014). Mostly men migrate to the cities to look for opportunities leaving children and their wife’s behind. Women and children thus struggle with poverty in rural areas and only keeps their hopes on the little sent back home by the working men.
The elderly also have no employment or any means of earning. 35% of the total population of elderly people in China leaves below the poverty line (Shi, 2014). They are also very venerable due to their increased expensive medication associated with old age. Lastly, the minority groups like the disabled also are affected. The government of China has not put up measures to ensure these groups are always covered thus making them very venerable to poverty as they cannot work to improve their standard. More than 50% of minorities groups lives in extreme poverty in China (Shi, 2014).
In India, women and children are also very venerable. Just like in China, most men in India have secured themselves some employment in the urban areas leaving children and women back in the rural region. The men occasionally send home some income of what they earn but in most cases it too little to satisfy the hunger of money in rural areas. Of the total population living in poverty in India, women and children make over 65% of the total poverty population (Panagariya et al, 2013).
The elderly in India also get it very had to earn due to their old age and lack of concern by the government. The India government has not put any measures to ensure proper survival of the elderly in the society. The old mostly are left under the care of family members to support them who in most cases are also poor to support them (Panagariya et al, 2013). More than half of the total population of the elderly people in India lives in extreme poverty. The minority groups and disabled are also discriminated in the job market thus most of them still live in extreme poverty.
Contrast
Despite the two counties having most poor people in the rural areas and most of them been women, children and the minorities, they both have variation in the nature and extent of poverty in they counties. The level of poverty in India is very high compared to the level of poverty in China. It is estimated that a total of between 90 million to 100 million Chinese still leaves below the poverty line (Shi, 2014). This population makes 6%-7% of the total population in China (Shi, 2014). The rural population living below the poverty line is in China is between 55 million-70 million of the total population leaving in below the poverty line in the country (Shi, 2014). This figure is less compared to the India statistics on the level of poverty both national and in regard to poverty in rural regions.
India is the leading country in the world in terms of the total population living below the poverty line. India has an estimated 300 million individual living below $1.25 per day (Panagariya et al, 2013). This means that more than 25% of the total India population lives below the poverty line (Panagariya et al, 2013). Unlike in China where only one person in eleven people is extremely poor, in India in every four people, at least one of them lives below the poverty line. This is the indication of how the extent of poverty varies in these two countries. In India, this social problem is wanting and is of larger magnitude compared to China. In rural India, the extent of the poverty is much deeper as compared to China. A total of 231 million individuals in rural India lives in extreme poverty (Panagariya et al, 2013). This is unlike China that only 55 million -70 million individual in rural areas lives under the poverty line (Panagariya et al, 2013).
The urban poverty also differs in the two countries. In China, only around 30 million people in the urban regions live below the poverty line (Shi, 2014). The number thus means that only 5% of the total urban population lives below the poverty line (Shi, 2014). The number was much lower in the past but have eventually increased as more people move to the cities to look for opportunities. The state-owned enterprises also lost a lot of jobs after they failed to keep up with the private sector thus adding to the poverty issue in the countries cities. China does not have such big slum as it is common in major cities in the world. It can be a surprise to see less poor housing in Shanghai and Beijing as compared to New York (Shi, 2014).
This does not mean that everyone is rich to afford the good houses, the government own and controls all housing the cities, it does not give rooms to slum development. If this was not the case, then several slums would have developed in China cities. Due to the limitation in the development of cities slums, most extremely poor people in the cities have a lot of difficulties finding housing. Development in the recent past has identified that they are several cave families in the big cities of China like Beijing. These cave families lives in sewers tunnels were the warm sewer pipes keep them warm. More than 500 families across the countries have been said to live under such life in major cities. This is an indication of ...