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Review article, poverty reduction of sustainable development goals in the 21st century: a bibliometric analysis.

• Institute of Blue and Green Development, Shandong University, Weihai, China

No Poverty is the top priority among 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The research perspectives, methods, and subject integration of studies on poverty reduction have been greatly developed with the advance of practice in the 21st century. This paper analyses 2,459 papers on poverty reduction since 2000 using VOSviewer software and R language. Our conclusions show that (1) the 21st century has seen a sharp increase in publications of poverty reduction, especially the period from 2015 to date. (2) The divergence in research quantity and quality between China and Kenya is great. (3) Economic studies focus on inequality and growth, while environmental studies focus on protection and management mechanisms. (4) International cooperation is usually related to geographical location and conducted by developed countries with developing countries together. (5) Research on poverty reduction in different regions has specific sub-themes. Our findings provide an overview of the state of the research and suggest that there is a need to strengthen the integration of disciplines and pay attention to the contribution of marginal disciplines to poverty reduction research in the future.

Introduction

Global sustainable development is the common target of human society. “No Poverty” and “Zero Hunger” are two primary goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs) , along with important premises in the completion of the goals of “Decent Work and Economic Growth Industry” and “Innovation and Infrastructure.” China has made great efforts in meeting its No Poverty targets. To achieve the goal of eliminating extreme poverty in the rural areas by the end of2020 1 , China has been carrying out a basic strategy of targeted approach named Jingzhunfupin 2 , which refers to implementing accurate poverty identification, accurate support, accurate management and tracking. By 2021, China accomplished its poverty alleviation target for the new era on schedule and achieved a significant victory 3 .

However, the worldwide challenges are still arduous. On the one hand, the recent global poverty eradication process has been further hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Bank shows that global extreme poverty rose in 2020 for the first time in over 20 years, with the total expected to rise to about 150 million by the end of 2021 4 . People “return to poverty” are emerging around the world. On the other hand, people who got out of income poverty may still be trapped in deprivations in health or education. About 1.3 billion people (22%) still live in multidimensional poverty among 107 developing countries, according to the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report released by the United Nations 5 . Meanwhile, the issue of inequality became more prominent, reflected by the number of people who are in relative poverty 6 .

In line with the dynamic poverty realities, the focusing of poverty research moved forward as well. Research frameworks have evolved from single dimension poverty to multidimensional poverty ( Bourguignon et al., 2019 ) and from income poverty to capacity poverty ( Zhou et al., 2021 ). Research perspectives concentrate on the macroscopic view, but have now turned to microscopic individual behavior analysis. Cross-integration of sociology, psychology, public management, and other disciplines also helps to expand and deepen the research ( Addison et al., 2008 ). Some cutting-edge researchers are making effort to shed light on the relationships between “No Poverty” and other SDGs. For example, Hubacek et al. (2017) verified the coherence of climate targets and achieving poverty eradication from a global perspective 7 . Li et al. (2021) discussed the impacts and synergies of achieving different poverty eradication goals on air pollutants in China. These novel papers give us insightful inspiration on combining poverty reduction with the resource or environmental problem including aspects like energy inequity, carbon emission. Hence, summarizing the research on different poverty realities and academic backgrounds should provide theoretical and empirical guidance for speeding up the elimination of poverty in the world ( Chen and Ravallion, 2013 ).

Previous review literature on poverty reduction all directed certain sub-themes. For example, Chamhuri et al. (2012) , Kwan et al. (2018) , Mahembe et al. (2019a) reviewed urban poverty, foreign aid, microfinance, and other topics, identifying the objects, causes, policies, and mechanisms of poverty and poverty reduction. Another feature of the review literature is that scholars often synthesize the articles and map the knowledge network manually, which constrains the amount of literature to be analyzed, leading to an inadequate understanding of poverty research. Manually literature review on specific fields of poverty reduction results in a research gap. Analysis delineating the general academic knowledge of poverty reduction is somewhat limited despite the abundance of research. Yet, following the trend toward scientific specialization and interdisciplinary viewpoints, the core and the periphery research fields and their connections have not been clearly described. Different studies are in a certain degree of segmentation because scholars have separately conducted studies based on their countries’ unique poverty background or their subdivision direction. Possibly, lacking communication and interaction will affect the overall development of poverty reduction research especially in the context of globalization. Less than 10 years are left to accomplish the UN sustainable development goals by 2030. It is urgent to view the previous literature from a united perspective in this turbulent and uncertain age.

Encouragingly, with advances in analytical technology, bibliometrics has become increasingly popular for developing representative summaries of the leading results ( Merediz-Solà and Bariviera, 2019 ). It has been widely applied in a variety of fields. In the domain of poverty study, Amarante et al. (2019) adopted the bibliometric method and reviewed thousands of papers on poverty and inequality in Latin America. Given above issues, we expand the scope of the literature and conduct a systematic bibliometric analysis to make a preliminary description of the research agenda on poverty reduction.

This paper presents an analysis of publications, keywords, citations, and the networks of co-authors, co-words, and co-citations, displaying the research status of the field, the hot spots, and evolution through time. We use R language and VOSviewer software to process and visualize data. Our contributions may be as follows. Firstly, we used the bibliometric method and reviewed thousands of papers together, helping keep pace with research advances in poverty alleviation with the rapid growth in the literature. Secondly, we clarified the core and periphery research areas, and their connections. These may be beneficial to handle the trend toward scientific specialization, as well as fostering communication and cooperation between disciplines, mitigating segmentation between the individual studies. Thirdly, we also provided insightful implications for future research directions. Discipline integration, intergenerational poverty, heterogeneous research are the directions that should be paid attention to.

The structure of this article is as follows. Methodology and Initial Statistics provides the methodology and initial statistics. Bibliometric Analysis and Network Analysis offer the bibliometric analysis and network visualization. The remaining sections offer discussions and conclusions.

Methodology and Initial Statistics

Bibliometrics, a library and information science, was first proposed by intelligence scientist Pritchard in 1969 ( Pritchard, 1969 ). It exploits information about the literature such as authors, keywords, citations, and institutions in the publication database. Bibliometric analyses can systematically and quantitatively analyze a large number of documents simultaneously. They can highlight research hotspots and detects research trends by exploring the time, source, and regional distribution of literature. Thus, bibliometric analyses have been widely used to help new researchers in a discipline quickly understand the extent of a topic ( Merediz-Solà and Bariviera, 2019 ).

Research tools such as Bibexcel, Histcite, Citespace, and Gephi have been created for bibliometric analysis. In this paper, R language and VOSviewer software are adopted. R language provides a convenient bibliometric analysis package for Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed databases, by which mathematical statistics were performed on authors, journals, countries, and keywords. VOSviewer software provides a convenient tool for co-occurrence network visualization, helping map the knowledge structure of a scientific field ( Van Eck and Waltman, 2010 ).

Data Collection

The bibliometric data was selected and downloaded from the Web of Science database ( www.webofknowledge.com ). We choose the WoS Core Collection, which contained SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, and A&HCI papers to focus on high-quality papers. The data was collected on March 19, 2021.

To identify the documents, we used verb phrases and noun phrases with the meaning of poverty reduction, such as “reduce poverty” and “poverty reduction,” as search terms, because there are several different expressions of “poverty reduction.” We also considered the combinations of “no poverty” and SDGs, “zero hungry” and “SDGs.” Because the search engine will pick up articles that have nothing to do with “poverty alleviation” depending on what words are used in the abstract, we employed keyword matching. Meanwhile, to prevent missing essential work that does not require author keywords, we also searched the title. Specifically, a retrieval formula can be written as [AK = (“search term”) OR TI = (“search term”)] in the advanced search box, where AK means author keywords and TI means title. Finally, we restricted the document types to “article” to obtain clear data. Thus, papers containing search phrases in headings or author keywords were marked and were guaranteed to be close to the desired topic.

A total of 2,551 studies were obtained, with 2,464 articles retained after removing duplicates. Table 1 presents the results for each search term. The phrasing of “poverty alleviation” and “poverty reduction” are written preferences.

TABLE 1 . Information of data collection.

Descriptive Analysis

Figure 1 gives details of each year’s publications during the period 2000–2021. The cut-off points of 2006 and 2015 divide the publication trends into three stages. The first period is 2000–2006, with approximately 40 publications per year. The second period is 2007–2014, in which production is between 80 and 130 papers annually. The third period is 2015–2021, with an 18.31% annual growth rate, indicating a growing interest in this field among scholars. Perhaps this is because 2006 was the last year of the first decade for the International Eradication of Poverty, and 2015 is the year that eliminating all forms of poverty worldwide was formally adopted as the first goal in the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development. Greater access to poverty reduction plan materials and data is a vital reason for the growth in papers as well.

FIGURE 1 . Annual scientific production.

We can notice that the milestone year is 1995 when we examine the time trend with broader horizons ( Figure 2 ). Before 1995, scant literature touches upon the topic of “poverty alleviation.” This confirms that in the time range we check the majority of the development of academic interest in this issue takes place. Thus, the 21st century has become a period of booming research on poverty reduction.

FIGURE 2 . Annual scientific production in a longer period.

Bibliometric Analysis

In this section, we offer the bibliometric analysis including the affiliation statistics, citation analysis and keywords analysis. Author analysis is not included because some authors’ abbreviations have led to statistical errors.

Affiliation Statistics

From 2000 to 2021, a total of 2,459 articles were published in 979 journals, a wide range. Table 2 lists the top ten journals, which together account for 439 (17.86%) of the articles in our data set. Development in Practice and World Development have the most publications, respectively 121 (4.92%) and 107 (4.35%), followed by Sustainability at 44 (1.8%). The top 10 journals mostly involve development or social issues, with some having high impact factors, including Food Policy (4.189) and Journal of Business Ethics (4.141).

TABLE 2 . Top 10 sources of publications.

Figure 3 presents the geographic distribution of the published articles on poverty reduction. As indicated in the legend, the white part on the map shows regions with zero published articles recorded in WoS. Darker shades indicate a greater number of articles published in the country or region. The US region is darkest on the map, with 593 articles published, followed by England, with 412 papers, and China, with 348 articles. Ranking fourth is South Africa, perhaps because South Africa is a pilot site for many poverty reduction projects. India, for the same reason, is similarly shaded.

FIGURE 3 . Spatial distribution of publication in all countries. Note: the data of all countries is from Web of Science.

Citation Analysis

The number of citations evaluates the influence and contribution of individual papers, authors, and nations. The top 10 countries in total citations are displayed in Table 3 . Consistent with the publication distribution, the leader is the United States (11,861), with the United Kingdom (8,735) and China (1,666) following. However, there is a broad gap between China and England in total citations. The average article citation ranks are quite different from the total citation list. Notably, Kenya takes first place based on its average citations per paper, though its total citations rank seventh, showing that Kenya’s poverty reduction practices and research are of great interest to a large number of scholars. By contrast, China’s average article citation is just roughly one-sixth of Kenya’s. The different pattern of the number of Chinese publications and citations shows that the quality of Chinese research must be improved even as it raises its publication quantity.

TABLE 3 . Top ten countries by total citations.

Table 4 lists the top 10 most cited articles with their first author, year, source, total citations, and total citations per year. Highly cited articles can be used as a benchmark for future research, and in some way signal the scientific excellence of each sub-field. For example, Wilson et al. (2006) reminded the importance of informal sector recycling to poverty alleviation. Daw et al. (2011) discussed the poverty alleviation benefits from ecosystem services (ES) with examples in developing countries. Pagiola et al. (2005) found that Payments for Environmental Services (PES) can alleviate poverty, and explored the key factors of this poverty mitigation effect using evidence from Latin America 8 . These three papers combined the environmental ecosystem with poverty alleviation. Beck et al. (2007) , Karnani (2007) explored the relationships between the SME sector and poverty alleviation and the private sector and poverty alleviation, respectively. Grindle (2004) discussed the necessary what, when, and how for good governance of poverty reduction. Cornwall and Brock (2005) took a critical look at how the three terms of “participation,” “empowerment” and “poverty reduction” have come to be used in international development policy. Adams and Page (2005) examined the impact of international migration and remittances on poverty. In the theory domain, Collier and Dollar (2002) derived a poverty-efficient allocation of aid. Hulme and Shepherd (2003) provided meaning for the term chronic poverty. Even from the present point of view, these scholars’ studies remain innovative and significant.

TABLE 4 . Top 10 papers with the highest total citations.

Keywords Analysis

The keywords clarify the main direction of the research and are regarded as a fine indicator for revealing the literature’s content ( Su et al., 2020 ). Two different types of keywords are provided by Web of Science. One is the author keywords, offered by the original authors, and another is the keywords plus, contrived by extracting from the cited reference. The frequency of both types of keywords in 2,459 papers is examined respectively in the whole sample and the sub-sample hereinafter for concentration and coverage.

Whole Sample

Table 5 lists the Top 10 most frequently used keywords and keyword-plus of total papers. Clearly author keywords are often repetitive, with “poverty,” “poverty reduction,” and “reduction” chosen as keywords for the same paper, but these do not dominate the keywords-plus. Hence, the keywords-plus may be more precise at identifying relevant content. However, we used author keywords for the literature screening.

TABLE 5 . Top 10 author keywords and keywords-plus with the highest frequency.

In addition to the terms “poverty” or “poverty reduction or alleviation,” we note that “China” and “Africa” occur frequently, with “India” and “Bangladesh” following when we expand the list from the Top 10 to Top 20 ( Supplementary Figure S1 ). The appearance of these places coincides with our speculation that the research was often conducted in Africa, East Asia, or South Asia once again, whereas the larger compositions are from developing countries or less developed countries.

The cumulative trend of TOP20 author keywords and keywords-plus is shown in Supplementary Figure S1 . The diagram also gives some information about other concerns bound up with anti-poverty programs, including “microfinance,” “food security,” “livelihoods,” “health,” “Economic-growth” and “income,” as numerous papers are focused on these aspects of poverty reduction.

Further, policy study and impact evaluation may be the core objectives of these papers. Vital evidence can be found in countless documents. Researchers measured the effect of policies or programs from various perspectives. In the study of Jalana and Ravallion (2003) , they indicated that ignoring foregone incomes overstated the benefits of the project when they estimated net gain from the Argentine workfare scheme. Meng (2013) found that the 8–7 plan increased rural income in China’s target counties by about 38% in 1994–2000, but had only a short-term impact 9 . Galiani and McEwan (2013) studied the heterogeneous influences of the Programa de Asignación Familiar (PRAF) program, in which implemented education cash transfer and health cash transfer to people of varying degrees of poverty in Honduran. Maulu et al. (2021) concluded that rural extension programs can provide a sustainable solution to poverty. Some studies also have drawn relatively fresh conclusions or advice on poverty reduction projects. Mahembe et al. (2019a) found that aid disbursed in production sectors, infrastructure and economic development was more effective in reducing poverty through retrospecting empirical studies of official development assistance (ODA) or foreign aid on poverty reduction. Meinzen-Dick et al. (2019) reviewed the literature on women’s land rights (WLR) and poverty reduction, but found no papers that directly investigate the link between WLR and poverty. Huang and Ying (2018) constructed a literature review that included the necessity and the ways of introducing a market mechanism to government poverty alleviation. Mbuyisa and Leonard (2017) demonstrated that information and communication technology (ICT) can be used as a tool for poverty reduction by Small and Medium Enterprises.

Web of Science provides the publications of each journal category ( Figure 4 ). Economics is the largest type of journal, followed by development studies and environmental studies. Education should be regarded as an important way to address the intergenerational poverty trap. However, we note that journals in education are only a fraction of the total number of journals. Psychology journals are in a similar position, though endogenous drivers of poverty reduction have been increasingly emphasized in recent research. The detailed data can be found in the supplementary documents. To investigate the differences between the subdivisions of the research, we chose economic and environmental journals as sub-samples for further analysis.

FIGURE 4 . Visualization of journal category from the web of science.

As Supplementary Figure S2 shows, the TOP10 author keywords in economic sample are similar to the whole sample. We note that microfinance is a real heated research domain both in economic and whole sample. The poor usually have multiple occupations or self-employment in very small businesses ( Banerjee and Duflo, 2007 ). The poor often have less access to formal credit. Karlan and Zinman (2011) examined a microcredit program in the Philippines and found that microcredit does expand access to informal credit and increase the ability against risk. Banerjee et al. (2015a) reported the results of an assessment of a random microcredit scheme in India, which increased the investment and profits of small-scale enterprises managed by the poor.

Several new keywords enter the TOP20 list in the economic field, including “targeting,” “income distribution,” “productivity,” “employment,” “rural poverty,” “access,” and “program.” “Targeting” is an essential topic in the economic field. It concerns the effectiveness of poverty reduction program and social fairness. Hence, an abundance of literature reviews the definitions of poverty that allow individuals to apply for poverty alleviation programs. Park et al. (2002) , Bibi and Duclos (2007) , Kleven and Kopczuk (2011) , discussed the inclusion error and exclusion error in programs’ targeting and identification under the criterion of poverty lines or specific tangible asset poverty agency indicators (e.g., whether households have color televisions, pumps or flooring, and so forth). In practice, Niehaus et al. (2013) tested the accuracy of different agency indicators to allocate Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards in India and found that using a greater number of poverty indicators led to a deterioration in targeting effectiveness while creating widespread violations in the implementation because less qualified families are more likely to pay bribes to investigators. Bardhan and Mookherjee (2005) explored the targeting effectiveness of decentralization in the implementation of anti-poverty projects. He and Wang (2017) assessed the targeting accuracy of the College Graduate Village Officials (CGVOs) project, a unique human capital redistribution policy in China, on poverty alleviation 10 .

The terms “inequality” and “growth” are first and second in the keywords-plus. This may be because inequality and growth are two of the major components in poverty changes in the economic field, which are stressed in the studies of Datt and Ravallion (1992) , Beck et al. (2007) . The ranking may also imply that the economics of the 21st century is more concerned with human welfare than the pursuit of rapid economic growth. Since a growing number of organizations are trying to build human capital to improve the livelihoods of their clients and further their mission of lifting themselves out of poverty. McKernan (2002) showed that social development programs are important components of microfinance program success. Similarly, Karlan and Valdivia (2006) argued that increasing business training can factually improve business knowledge, practice effectiveness, and revenue. Besides, cash transfers are widely adopted to reduce income inequality and improve education and the health status of poor groups ( Banerjee et al., 2015b ; Sedlmayr et al., 2020 ). Benhassine et al. (2015) noted that the Tayssir Project in Morocco, a cash transfer project, achieved an increasing improvement of school enrolment rate in the treatment group, especially for girls 11 .

We combine the journal types of “Environmental Studies” and “Environmental Sciences” into one unit for analysis ( Supplementary Figure S3 ). In the environmental field, the terms “conservation” and “management” are ranked first and second. This field also involves “ecosystem services,” “climate change,” “biodiversity conservation,” and “deforestation,” with rapid growth in recent years. These themes were discussed by Alix-Garcia et al. (2013) , Alix-Garcia et al. (2015) , Sims and Alix-Garcia (2017) in their investigations of the effect of conditional cash transfers on environmental degradation, the poverty alleviation benefits of the ecosystem service payment project, and comparison of the effects in protected areas and of ecosystem service payment on poverty reduction in Mexico. The differences in economic research in poverty reduction and environmental field show the necessity of strengthening cooperation between disciplines.

Network Analysis

Network relationship is established by the co-occurrence of two types of information. It enables mapping of the knowledge nodes with a joint perspective, instead of viewing scientific ideas in isolation. The data is imported into VOSviewer software after removing duplicates by R package. We then provide the co-authorship analysis, co-citation analysis, and co-keywords analysis.

Co-Authorship Analysis

Co-authorship may reflect international cooperation as shown by the country distribution ( Figure 5 ). When the authors of two countries have a cooperative relationship, a line is generated to connect the corresponding countries. The size of nodes reflects the number of countries of origin of the authors. The width of the line represents the cooperative frequency between them, and the different colors mark the partition of the countries.

FIGURE 5 . International networks of co-authorship.

The network includes a total of 1,449 countries, of which 92 meet the threshold of at least five instances of cooperation. The United States, United Kingdom, China, and South Africa have the strongest interlinkage with other countries or regions. Whether countries in each cluster demonstrate international academic cooperation on poverty reduction is sometimes based on geographic location. For example, the red cluster includes the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Ecuador. These countries mainly lie in the Americas. The United Kingdom, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa are in the yellow group, located in Europe and Africa. The green cluster includes China, Malaysia, and Bangladesh, all Asian countries. The distribution of countries on each cluster and the map as a whole show that research on poverty alleviation is usually conducted by developed and developing nations together. This may be due to anti-poverty programs in developed countries usually being subsidized by international non-governmental organizations, as shown by the branch literature devoted to foreign aid and poverty reduction ( Mahembe et al., 2019b ).

Co-Citation Analysis

Co-citation analysis can locate the core classical literature efficiently ( Zhang et al., 2020 ). Pioneering studies of co-citation analysis were performed by Small (1973) . When an article cited two other articles, a relationship of co-citation will be established between these two “cited” articles ( González-Alcaide et al., 2016 ). Since co-citation aims at reference, it targets the knowledge base for the past.

Figure 6 displays the co-citation network of the cited references. The functions of the sizes and colors are the same as in Figure 5 . The most cited papers in the co-citation relationship are the studies of Foster et al. (1984) , Sen et al. (1999) , Dollar and Kraay (2002) , which respectively explore poverty measures, globalization and development, and the growth impact for the poor.

FIGURE 6 . Cited reference network of co-citation.

Figure 7 gives the co-citation heat map of sources, based on their density. We set the threshold at 20, and 78 cited sources remained on the map. Different colors signify different clusters of co-citation. The lighter the color, the more frequently the journals are cited. There are four major categories. World development and the Journal of Development Economics have the largest influence on the red cluster, which mainly contains development and economic studies. The second cluster is green and includes the fields of energy, environment, and ecology, with Ecology Economics as its brightest star. The Journal of Business Ethics and Annals of Tourism Research are the most-cited journals in the third and fourth cluster, which represents the fields of business and tourism. Some psychology studies exist in transitional spaces between business studies and economic studies, suggesting a trend of interdisciplinary work. In the past 10 years, we checked manually that psychology and other interdisciplinary research performed well. Many papers were published in Science or Nature. In the research of Mani et al. (2013) , there was a causal relationship between poverty and psychological function. Poverty reduced the cognitive performance of the poor, because poverty consumes spiritual resources, leaving fewer cognitive resources to guide choices and actions. Another psychology-based experiment in Togo showed that personal proactive training increased the profits of poor businesses by 30%, while traditional training influence was not significant ( Campos et al., 2017 ). In the study of Ludwig et al. (2012) , they revealed that the shift from high-poverty to low-poverty communities resulted in significant long-term improvements in physical and mental health and subjective well-being and had a continuing impact on collective efficacy and neighborhood security.

FIGURE 7 . Cited source density network of co-citation.

Co-Words Analysis

The analysis of co-words was performed after the co-citation analysis. Since it is hard to explain the changes in cluster from year to another in a co-citation map, Callon et al. (1983) proposed co-word analysis to identify and visualize scientific networks and their evolution. Based on our keyword analysis and following the arguments of Zhang et al. (2016) , the knowledge structures of author keywords and keywords plus are similar, but keywords plus can mirror a large proportion of the author keywords when the threshold of the number of instances of a word exceeds 10. The merger of two types of keywords will inflate the total number of words, leaving unique words representing the latest hot spot with little chance to be selected. Therefore, we conduct the co-word analysis using keywords plus to map the structure.

We set the minimum number of occurrences to 15, and 100 words with the greatest link strength are selected from the total of 2,774. As shown in Figure 8 , keywords plus generates 4 clusters. To our delight, each cluster does reflect the research priorities of each region.

FIGURE 8 . Keywords-plus co-occurrence cluster map.

The first cluster (red) reveals studies concerning livelihood, conservation, management, climate change and agriculture. These topics have strong interlinkage to Africa, suggesting that poverty reduction in Africa is often related to basic livelihood and ecology. The poor in Africa rely on the ecological conditions heavily as they are facing a more disadvantaged climate and resources. Therefore, their poverty reduction process is sometimes highly unstable and subject to considerable internal and external constraints. Stevenson and Irz (2009) concluded that the numerous studies presented almost no evidence of aquaculture reducing poverty directly.

The second cluster (green) represents studies focused on economic growth and income inequality, common in China and India. This pattern may imply that papers of this cluster focus on the economic conditions of the poor. Other studies in this cluster are related to migration, health, and welfare. The third cluster (blue) is the poverty reduction strategies on microfinance and empowerment, which are associated with Bangladesh where the Grameen Bank, one of the most notable and intensely researched microcredit programs, was founded ( McKernan, 2002 ). This cluster’s studies are interested in approaches such as business, markets, and education, to help the poor rise from poverty. The fourth cluster (yellow) contains studies of poverty reduction programs on environmental services in Latin America, where the environmental problem is intertwined with poverty traps.

Figure 9 shows the time trend of keywords-plus co-occurrence. Because the keywords plus are extracted from the cited references, they can reflect the changes in hotspots from relatively early to the most recent years. As can be seen, education, technology, and environmental services are the latest keywords in research on poverty reduction.

FIGURE 9 . Keywords-plus co-occurrence time trend map.

There are several limitations to our bibliometric analysis, though we undertake an extensive review of the literature. First, we inevitably lose a fraction of the literature. keywords and title are chosen as the criteria for helping precisely concentrate the search results on our subject. However, the Web of Science core collection on which our study relied is weak in the coverage of literature to some degree. Hence, there is a trade-off between the quantity and the quality of literature. We choose the latter, leading to an unclear restriction of the comprehensiveness of research. Second, we can identify recent research status but are not able to locate the Frontier accurately. Network mapping requires selecting a minimum occurrence threshold for including corresponding authors, keywords, and citations into the network. Because a certain number of citations or new hotspots take several years to be widely used and studied, this threshold may neglect these important data ( Linnenluecke et al., 2020 ). One possible solution is to manually examine the latest published papers in high-quality journals. Third, the mining of subfields is not deep enough. In other words, bibliometrics cannot sort out the main conclusions of literature on poverty reduction. For instance, we do not know whether the conclusion of different studies are consistent for the same poverty alleviation project. Neither do we know the exact mechanism of the anti-poverty program through bibliometric analysis, which limits the possibility of finding research points from controversial conclusions or mechanisms.

However, several points are worth taking into consideration for the future. To start with, poverty reduction is a natural interdisciplinary social science problem. Interdisciplinary has become a major research trend. Except applying cash transfer to ecological programs, associations are raised. We may discuss whether the combination of finance and ecology will bring positive benefits to financial stability, ecological protection, and poverty reduction by the means of capitalization of ecological resources or establishing the ecological bank. Our analysis suggests that some unheeded branch disciplines like human ethology are contributing to poverty reduction research as well. Thus, we need to investigate the interdisciplinary integration and the contribution of marginal disciplines on poverty reduction.

Then, more attention should be paid the intergenerational poverty. It requires researchers to extend the time span of observation and questionnaire investigation. Some work has been done. One example is the research of Hussain and Hanjra (2004) . They reviewed literature and clarified that advances in irrigation technologies, such as micro-irrigation systems, have strong anti-poverty potential, alleviating both temporary and chronic poverty. Another example is the research of Jones (2016) , which indicated that conditional cash transfers (CCTs) could indeed interrupt the intergenerational cycle of poverty through human capital investments. However, there remains a lot of work to be done for preventing the next generation from returning to poverty in this turbulent period. In a related matter, the role of education in isolating intergenerational poverty or returning to the poverty trap should be highlighted. What kind of education would more effectively help families out of poverty, quality education or vocational skill education? How to allocate educational resources effectively? For poor students, what kind of psychological intervention in education is needed to mitigate the impact of native families and help them grow up confidently? Lots of questions waiting for empirical answering, yet we note that the educational journal only took a little fraction of the total journals in Section 4.3.2.

Next, poverty does exist in prosperous conurbations though the focal point obtained from keywords analysis is “rural area”. Nevertheless, both the slums in the center of big cities and circulative flowing refugees are experiencing more relative deprivation, representing a state of instability. Chamhuri et al. (2012) reviewed the objects, causes, and policies of urban poverty. Exploring how to lift a particular small economic low-lying area out of poverty is also of great significance. Follow-up researches should keep up.

Moreover, poverty alleviation needs to be based on individual or group-specific characteristics to some degree. It is not feasible to implement a unified poverty alleviation policy on a large scale. Exquisitely designed randomized controlled trials are used to reveal the heterogeneous influence of poverty alleviation programs. Haushofer and Shapiro (2016) compared the difference between monthly transfers and one-time lump-sum transfers. The subdivision research on the effect of poverty reduction programs should be strengthened. We imagine that a model may be formed to predict the total poverty reduction effects of different policies in the various region to obtain an optimized strategy of “No Poverty” in the future.

Lastly, exploring whether poverty reduction will be contradictory or coordinate with other SDGs might be a popular direction. About the literature review, two aspects can be improved. The first is merging with other databases to compare the loss of the trade-off between quality and quantity. Next, subsequent literature reviews need to explore how to better combine manual literature collation and bibliometrics, especially when the subject is a large topic.

Poverty reduction is one of the objectives of welfare economics and development economics. It is a classic and lasting topic and has recently come into the limelight. Poverty reduction studies in the 21st century are usually based on specific poverty alleviation projects or policies in developing countries. Researchers examine numerous topics, including whether the target audience has been precisely identified and covered in the design and implementation process, whether poverty reduction projects have been proved effective, what mechanisms have contributed to the success of poverty reduction projects, and what caused their failure. The aim of this paper is to summarize the amount, growth trajectory, citation, and geographic distribution of the poverty reduction literature, map the intellectual structure, and highlight emerging key areas in the research domain using the bibliometric method. We use the VOSviewer software and the R language as tools to analyze 2,459 articles published since 2000.

We have several conclusions. First, the 21st century is a period of booming research on poverty reduction, and the number of publications has increased sharply since 2015. Second, in affiliation analysis, Development in Practice and World Development are the top publications. The most frequently cited source of co-citations are World Development , Ecology Economics, Journal of Business Ethics, and Annals of Tourism Research , respectively the centers of the fields of economics, energy, the environment, and ecology, business, and tourism. Third, there are differences in the national and regional distribution of literature, based on the number of publications and citations. The United States led both the publication list and the total citation list, followed by the United Kingdom, China, and South Africa. Yet, there is a huge variation in the number of citations, with the United States and the United Kingdom having almost 5 to 6 times more citations than China and South Africa. In terms of average citations, Kenya is the best performer. The average citation amount in China is low, implying that Chinese scholars need to improve the quality of their literature. Fourth, in the keyword analysis, policy discussion and impact estimation are the two major themes. The keywords related to poverty reduction are different among different disciplines. Economics pays more attention to inequality and growth, while environmental disciplines pay more attention to protection and management. This may suggest that strengthening the cooperation between disciplines will lead to more diversified research perspectives. Fifth, in the co-author analysis, international cooperation is usually related to geographical location. For example, there is a large amount of cooperation between Europe and Africa, within Asia, and between North and South America. At the same time, poverty reduction research often shows the cooperative patterns of developed and developing countries. Last, in the co-keyword analysis, four clusters reflect the research priorities of each region. Poverty reduction in Africa is often related to basic livelihood and ecology. The economic conditions of the poor are the concerns of research in China and India. The South Asia region is also the location of microcredit program experiments. Poverty traps are intertwined with environmental problems in Latin America’s literature.

Our findings also offer inspiration for the future. There may be a need to investigate the interdisciplinary integration. Intergenerational and urban poverty deserve attention. The heterogeneous design of poverty alleviation strategies needs to be further deepened. It might be a popular direction to figure out whether poverty reduction will be contradictory with other SDGs and conduct scenario simulation. We identify shortcomings as well. Finally, precisely identifying research frontiers requires further exploration.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (grant number 72022009).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material

The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2021.754181/full#supplementary-material

1 The extreme poverty criterion set by World Bank is 1.9$ a day in purchasing power parties (PPP), https://www.worldbank.org/en/research/brief/policy-research-note-03-ending-extreme-poverty-and-sharing-prosperity-progress-and-policies . The China poverty alleviation target in 2020 is to eliminate absolute poverty, which is defined as living less than 2,300 yuan per person per day at 2010 constant prices. In addition to living above the absolute poverty line, people who must reached other five qualitative criteria can be calculated getting rid of absolute poverty, which is no worries about food, clothing, basic medical care, compulsory education and housing safety

2 Jingzhunfupin is a general term of Chinese targeted poverty alleviation work model. Opposite to the haploid poverty alleviation, different assistance policies will be formulated according to the different category of poverty, distinctive causes, dissimilar background of poor households and their divergent living environment

3 https://enapp.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202102/26/AP60382a17a310f03332f97555.html . https://www.bbc.com/news/56213271

4 https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview

5 The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) since 2010. It has been published annually by OPHI and in the Human Development Reports (HDRs) ever since. https://ophi.org.uk/multidimensional-poverty-index/

6 Relative poverty is another poverty measurement to reflect the underlying economic gradient. It is induced from the relative deprivation theory. Countries set the relative poverty line at a constant proportion of the country or year-specific mean (or median) income in practice ( https://doi.org/10.1162/REST_a_00127 )

7 This paper mainly found that eradicating extreme poverty, i.e., moving people to an income above $1.9 purchasing power parity (PPP) a day, does not jeopardize the climate target. That is to say, the climate target and no poverty goal is consistent and coordinated

8 This paper indicated that Payments for Environmental Services may reduce poverty mainly by making payments to poor natural resource managers in upper watersheds. The effects depend on how many participants are poor, the poor’s ability to participate, and the amounts paid

9 8–7 plan is the second wave of China’s poverty alleviation program. The Leading Group renewed poverty line and the National Poor Counties list in 1993. Targeted counties received three major interventions: credit assistance, budgetary grants for investment and public employed projects (i.e., Food-for-Work).

10 In the College Graduate Village Officials (CGVOs) program, the government hire outstanding graduates to work in the rural areas, for example as the village committee secretary, to help rural development and alleviate poverty. In this paper, the College Graduate Village Officials assisted eligible poor households to understand and apply for relevant subsidies, which reduced elite capture of pro-poor programs and move forward poverty alleviation process

11 The Tayssir Project was labeled the Education Support Program, sending a positive signal of its educative value

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Keywords: poverty reduction, bibliometric analysis, VOSviewer, sustainable development goals, 21st century

Citation: Yu Y and Huang J (2021) Poverty Reduction of Sustainable Development Goals in the 21st Century: A Bibliometric Analysis. Front. Commun. 6:754181. doi: 10.3389/fcomm.2021.754181

Received: 06 August 2021; Accepted: 01 October 2021; Published: 18 October 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Yu and Huang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Yanni Yu, [email protected] ; Jinghong Huang, [email protected]

† These authors have contributed equally to this work

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Dynamic Relationship Between Social Factors and Poverty: A Panel Data Analysis of 23 Selected Developing Countries

• Published: 21 March 2024

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• Yugang Wu 1 ,
• Syed Muhammad Muddassir Abbas Naqvi 2 &
• Iftikhar Yasin   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6214-7989 3  

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This research paper aims to investigate the social factors affecting poverty in selected developing countries, which have been hardly investigated. We incorporated the income poverty index (poverty headcount ratio and poverty gap) and human poverty indices dependent variables. At the same time, social factors have been used as explanatory variables from 1997 to 2016 for a group of twenty-three developing nations. The poverty indices have been constructed through PCA (principal component analysis). Friedman and Pesaran CD (cross-dependence) tests have been applied to confirm the occurrence of cross-dependency in the panel data, and the CIPS (second-generation panel unit root) test has been applied to verify the stationarity of the variables. We applied Pedroni’s panel co-integration to check for long-run linkages among the variables, while system and difference GMM (one-step) techniques have been used to find dynamic effects on poverty. The results conclude that the age dependency ratio showed a positive and significant relationship with poverty, whereas social globalization depicted a negative and significant relationship with poverty. Nevertheless, health (life expectancy at birth) and education (primary school enrolment) have a negative and significant relationship with human poverty, while these variables do not impact the income poverty model. Similarly, population growth had a positive and significant impact on human poverty but had no impact on income poverty.

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Appendix 1. Selected developing countries

Dominican Republic

El Salvador

Kyrgyz Republic

Venezuela, RB

Please see Tables  13 , 14 , 15 and 16 .

Please see Figs. 1 and 2 .

Scree diagram of eigenvalues following PCA for income poverty index

Scree diagram of eigenvalues after PCA for human poverty index

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Wu, Y., Naqvi, S.M.M.A. & Yasin, I. Dynamic Relationship Between Social Factors and Poverty: A Panel Data Analysis of 23 Selected Developing Countries. J Knowl Econ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-024-01843-x

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Poverty, Racism, and the Public Health Crisis in America

Bettina m. beech.

1 Department of Health Systems and Population Health Science, University of Houston College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States

Chandra Ford

2 Department of Community Health Sciences, Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice and Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Roland J. Thorpe, Jr.

3 Department of Health, Behavior, and Society, Program for Research on Men's Health, Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States

Marino A. Bruce

4 Program for Research on Faith, Justice, and Health, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, University of Houston College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States

Keith C. Norris

5 Department of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Associated Data

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

The purpose of this article is to discuss poverty as a multidimensional factor influencing health. We will also explicate how racism contributes to and perpetuates the economic and financial inequality that diminishes prospects for population health improvement among marginalized racial and ethnic groups. Poverty is one of the most significant challenges for our society in this millennium. Over 40% of the world lives in poverty. The U.S. has one of the highest rates of poverty in the developed world, despite its collective wealth, and the burden falls disproportionately on communities of color. A common narrative for the relatively high prevalence of poverty among marginalized minority communities is predicated on racist notions of racial inferiority and frequent denial of the structural forms of racism and classism that have contributed to public health crises in the United States and across the globe. Importantly, poverty is much more than just a low-income household. It reflects economic well-being, the ability to negotiate society relative to education of an individual, socioeconomic or health status, as well as social exclusion based on institutional policies, practices, and behaviors. Until structural racism and economic injustice can be resolved, the use of evidence-based prevention and early intervention initiatives to mitigate untoward effects of socioeconomic deprivation in communities of color such as the use of social media/culturally concordant health education, social support, such as social networks, primary intervention strategies, and more will be critical to address the persistent racial/ethnic disparities in chronic diseases.

I used to think I was poor, then they told me I wasn't poor, I was needy. Then they told me it was self-defeating to think of myself as needy, I was deprived. Then they told me underprivileged was overused, that I was disadvantaged. I still don't have a dime, but I have a great vocabulary—From a Jules Feiffer cartoon, 1965 .

Poverty is one of the most significant, yet understudied social conditions of the 21st century ( 1 ). This social condition can be defined in a number of ways; however, it can be summarized as the lack of resources necessary to meet basic human needs. Prosperity has been a primary focus in recent years with the rise in overall global wealth ( 2 ). But, the growth in economic and financial resources has not been equally distributed. The gap in resources between the affluent and the poor has been steadily increasing and global extreme poverty (individual income < United States [U.S.] $1.90/day) increased in 2020, the first time in over two decades to 9.2%, after falling to a low of 8% in 2019 ( 3 ). Over 40% of the world lived on less than the U.S. $5.50 a day in 2017 with most of the extreme poverty concentrated in Africa ( 3 ). The prevalence of extreme poverty in the U.S. is very low by global standards ( 3 ). However, the U.S. has one of the highest rates of poverty in the developed world and the worst index of health and social problems as a function of income inequality ( 4 ). For each additional household member, the level increases by $4,480 a year. The level of relative poverty in the U.S. is determined by the federal poverty level (FPL), and for a single-person household, the 2020 poverty level was $12,760 a year, or just under $35 a day. The prevalence of communities being below the FPL varies by race and ethnicity with 24.2% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 21.2% of Black, 17.2% of Hispanic, 9.7% of Asian/Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian, and 9% of White American families falling below 100% of the FPL ( 5 ). Furthermore, the inequities in wealth are even greater than income differences across racial and ethnic groups.

Black families in the U.S. have about one-twentieth the wealth of their White peers on average ( 6 ). For every dollar of wealth in White families, the corresponding wealth in Black households is five cents. Wealth inequality is not a function of work ethic or work hour difference between groups. Rather, the widening gap between the affluent and the poor can be linked to unjust policies and practices that favor the wealthy ( 2 , 7 – 9 ). The impact of this form of inequality on health has come into sharp focus during the COVID-19 pandemic as the economically disadvantaged were more likely to get infected with SARS CoV-2 and die ( 10 ).

For many health providers, the link between poverty and health among health care providers has been primarily grounded in access to health care with several downstream effects of poverty that may include poor nutrition and substandard housing. This understanding is often influenced and perhaps confounded by the correlation between race and poverty, or racism and classism ( 11 ). A common narrative for the relatively high prevalence of poverty in marginalized minority communities is predicated on notions about them having poor work ethics and poor innate inabilities to achieve wealth. An over-reliance on the myth of meritocracy and a failure to understand root causes of poverty operating at community and individual levels can exacerbate poor patient-provider relations and perpetuate suboptimal patient outcomes among marginalized minority groups. Racial and economic marginalization has contributed to public and population health crises in the United States (U.S.) and across the globe ( 12 , 13 ). However, poverty is much more than just a low household income. Poverty has been characterized in the following three ways: (1) economic well-being, commonly linked to income; (2) ability to navigate society as a function of an education or health status of the individual; and/or (3) social exclusion as a result of institutional behaviors, practices, and policies ( 1 , 14 ). The purpose of this article is to discuss poverty as a multidimensional factor influencing health and explicate how racism contributes to and perpetuates the economic and financial inequality that diminishes prospects for population health improvement among marginalized racial and ethnic groups. We believe this discussion will help to inform a realistic way forward in the pursuit of health equity.

Poverty and Health Disparities, A Historical Perspective

In the mid-1800's, Dr. James McCune Smith was the leading voice in the medical profession to argue that the health of the person was not primarily a consequence of their innate constitution, but instead reflected their intrinsic membership in groups created by a race structured society ( 15 – 17 ). This articulation of health disparities being linked to the racial caste system of America and inequitable social conditions is one of the earliest written descriptions of racism as the cause of health inequities and ultimately health disparities by a member of the American healthcare community. His arguments were scientifically validated when Dr. William Edward Burghardt Dubois reported his findings in 1899 from the first sociological study of Blacks in America, The Philadelphia Negro, demonstrating that racial differences in mortality in Philadelphia were explained by social factors (e.g., economic, sanitary, and education) and not innate racial traits or tendencies ( 18 ). Dr. Dubois documented how white supremacy policies, actions, and beliefs leading to discrimination, oppression, and more contributed to structural poverty and increased levels of despair, disease, and death ( 19 ). Thus, Drs. James and Dubois are considered by many to be the true pioneers who laid the foundation for future work clarifying racism rather than race as the cause of health disparities ( 20 , 21 ).

Explicit notions of Black biological, intellectual, and moral inferiority often categorized as scientific racism have gradually moved from the mainstream to the margins over the last century as social movements advocated for the full citizenship of Black Americans. Despite the passing of civil rights legislation in the U.S. prohibiting discrimination in public arenas and civic engagement (e.g., Civil Rights Bill of 1866, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Civil Rights Act of 1968), structural racism, discrimination, and other harmful forms of bias continue to persist today ( 22 – 24 ). Many factors, such as explicit and implicit provider biases, medical and institutional mistrust (due to historic and contemporary mistreatment), and low self-esteem and stereotype threat, from internalized racism continue to impact our nation and further contribute to the genesis and perpetuation of health disparities ( 25 ). This was reified in the 1985 Report of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. DHHS) Task Force on Black and Minority Health, known as the Heckler Report, the first government-sanctioned assessment of racial health disparities ( 26 ), followed nearly two decades thereafter by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) Report on Unequal Treatment ( 25 ). The Heckler Report noted mortality inequity was linked to six leading causes of preventable excess deaths for the Black compared to the White population (cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, infant mortality, chemical dependency, and homicide/unintentional injury) ( 26 ). The IOM Report focused on health care disparities and highlighted the role interpersonal racism can have on health outcomes for members of minoritized groups ( 25 ). These reports and others ( 9 , 27 – 35 ) have led to a more robust focus on population health over the last few decades that has included a renewed interest in the impact of racism and social factors, such as poverty on clinical outcomes ( 1 , 33 ).

Poverty and the MYTH of Meritocracy

The race is an antecedent and major determinant of socioeconomic status (SES) in the U.S.; therefore, it is not surprising that the successful implementation of discriminatory race-based policies premised on racial inferiority would produce racial disparities in SES. The term structural racism is used to capture the ways in which inequities are perpetuated through the racialized differential access to resources, opportunities, and services that are codified in laws, policies, practices, and societal norms ( 23 , 32 , 33 , 36 – 40 ). This system harms marginalized populations at the expense of affording greater resources, opportunities, and other privileges to the dominant White society ( 23 , 32 , 33 , 36 – 40 ). Importantly, a single identifiable perpetrator is not visible making its denial easy and its identification and dissolution challenging ( 41 ).

However, the role of structural racism in creating and sustaining poverty is rarely discussed in scholarly and public circles despite the publishing of seminal works, such as Caste, Class and Race, Black Metropolis , and An American Dilemma during the mid-20th century ( 42 – 44 ). These groundbreaking books laid the foundation for several sociological studies documenting key structurally racist policies and practices (i.e., residential segregation) that created communities comprised of racial and ethnic minorities that are beset with poverty and related factors, including high unemployment, poor schools, substandard housing, and limited social mobility ( 45 – 47 ). Most White Americans were not exposed to this scholarship nor the overwhelming financial and economic disadvantages faced by African Americans and other marginalized groups. As such, public discourse has been largely shaped by a narrative of meritocracy which is laced with ideals of opportunity without any consideration of the realities of racism and race-based inequities in structures and systems that have locked individuals, families, and communities into poverty-stricken lives for generations. Pervasive public policies spanning from slavery to voter suppression have and continue to severely limit opportunities for social mobility among marginalized groups, thereby perpetuating and hardening vast inequities in power, status, and resources that define our racial caste system and structure ( 9 , 34 , 48 – 50 ).

The narrative of meritocracy has also been extended to immigrants, but it is framed through a narrative of European immigrants who work hard and become successful. However, immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, in particular as well as many refugees from poor Asian and African countries are also exposed to laws and policies that create and perpetuate a life confronting persistent inequality and perceptions of inferiority.

These practices of race-based, community-level disinvestment in each of the domains of the social determinants coupled with a lack of a national health program condemn oppressed populations such as Black and Hispanic Americans, American Indians, and disproportionately non-English speaking immigrants and refugees to remain in poverty and suffer from suboptimal health. Thus, poverty represents a critical public health condition that is both determined by and perpetuated by structural racism.

Conceptual Framework of Poverty and Health

Socioeconomically disadvantaged populations across the globe bear a disproportionate burden of chronic diseases and are least likely to receive evidence-based care leading to optimal clinical outcomes ( 51 , 52 ). A basic understanding of the vulnerabilities of the marginalized and oppressed populations will facilitate the adaptation and adoption of the necessary policies to support disease treatment and prevention guidelines ( 52 ). The WHO has identified three key tenets to improving health at a global level that each reinforces the impact of socioeconomic factors: (1) improve the conditions of daily life; (2) tackle the inequitable distribution of power, money, and resources, the structural drivers of those conditions of daily life, globally, nationally, and locally; and (3) develop a workforce trained in the social determinants of health and raise public awareness about social needs and the social determinants of health ( 53 ). Social factors and health behaviors have contributed substantially to the growing non-communicable disease epidemics (e.g., obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and mental health disorders). A deeper understanding and integration of social and behavioral sciences is needed to equip medical and public health communities to address the challenge of providing quality care in the setting of contrasting financial and public health policies to control costs ( 54 ). A conceptual framework emphasizing the key pathways through which poverty and structural racism may influence wellness and health outcomes is shown in Figure 1 .

A conceptual framework emphasizing the key pathways through which poverty and structural racism may influence wellness and health outcomes [adapted from Wen et al. ( 55 )].

Perniciousness of Persistent Poverty

The Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) are macro-level factors that shape the economic, physical, psychological, and social environments in which people live ( 56 ). They are often viewed as having the capacity to enhance or diminish the resources available to individuals to promote health, including but not limited to the food supply, housing, economic and social relationships, transportation, employment, criminal justice, education, and health care, whose distribution across populations effectively determines length and quality of life and the programs and policies that direct them ( 23 ). The World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health has found that the poor health status of low resource persons, communities, and nations is directly related to the unequal distribution of power, income, goods, and services ( 53 ). Social structures and institutions with unequal and unfair social policies, economic arrangements, and practices have contributed to much of the health inequity present in the world. A brief overview of select medical conditions follows.

Communicable diseases: Poverty can contribute to many communicable diseases including many acute and chronic infectious diseases. Poverty and the associated disadvantage of personal and social resources often lead to unsafe habitation and lack of cleanliness, unhealthy diets, and malnutrition (including maternal-fetal), poor water quality, increased exposure to infectious diseases, environmental pollution and toxins, and more ( 57 ). The rates of infectious disease morbidity and mortality in low resource households, communities, and nations over decades bear witness to the considerable impact of economic inequality on health ( 53 ).

Maternal and child health: Poverty has been strongly linked with poor reproductive outcomes, both independently and in combination with exposure to discrimination ( 58 – 61 ). Maternal and child health among low-income and racial/ethnic minority groups are particularly susceptible to psychological stress, nutrition, substance use, and more ( 58 , 62 , 63 ).

Incarcerated youth: Globally and in the US, incarceration rates are higher among poor and marginalized groups ( 64 ). For children within the criminal justice system or otherwise deprived of liberty are at particularly high risk of violence, rape and sexual assault, sexually transmitted diseases, substance use disorders, mental illnesses, and physical disorders, many of which will continue throughout the life course ( 65 , 66 ). Furthermore, adult incarceration can create health deficits in familial youth ( 64 ).

Chronic non-communicable diseases: Similar patterns of disparities negatively are observed in the incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney disease, and others ( 67 – 70 ). Poverty can also have indirect implications for health ( 5 , 71 ). Race-based economic disadvantages can influence other social determinants as the intersection with poverty can further limit housing, educational, and employment opportunities, and these have also been linked to worse health outcomes ( 58 , 72 – 74 ). Poverty can also influence individual perceptions and behaviors ( 75 ). Relative and absolute economic deprivation can shape expectations and perceived life chances in a manner that individuals focus on surviving rather than thriving.

Mental health: In addition to the more traditional mental health conditions that may limit daily functioning, the additional chronic stress associated with navigating basic needs in a state of poverty can impair cognitive processing and the ability to remember and to perform implementation tasks ( 76 ), along with mistrust which may impact the ability of the individual to follow up on medical appointments, provider recommendations and more to conspire to limit health outcomes ( 77 ).

In summary, the impact of poverty on both the physical and psychological aspects of a person can play an important role in the many dimensions associated with the development and progression of diseases. The socioeconomic status of the individual may considerably impact the perception of the individual of many life issues, such as food, education, language, and time ( 75 ). While these concepts may be apparent and easily recognizable in other social disciplines, their presence and implications may be lost or concealed to many health care providers. Therefore, an understanding of how poverty may influence worldviews is critical for health professionals to truly understand the diverse group of patients they care for and how to better connect with those in an impoverished situation to optimize the effectiveness of traditional and alternative health strategies and recommendations. Table 1 highlights the influence of socioeconomic class including income on the context of patient-specific needs, values, and preferences, as well as considerations as to how racism may be operating in that setting.

Socioeconomic class and values of key determinants of health [adapted from Payne and Blair ( 75 )].

Poverty, Refugee, and Migration

As a large nation founded by immigrants, the United States inevitably and receives a large number of refugees, documented, and undocumented immigrants seeking a better life. The national narrative is that immigrants will find employment, gain some measure of socioeconomic equity and become eligible for health insurance. Unfortunately, this ideal only holds true for a subset of preferred immigrants largely from wealthy European countries. Individuals from formerly colonized nations in Central or South America, Asia, or Africa who come to the United States are often beset with persistent marginalization, poverty, and poor health ( 78 , 79 ). Furthermore, the likelihood that groups will be placed in such a situation is grounded in racial and ethnic discrimination as well as religious discrimination ( 11 ). Many immigrants with limited resources experience a combination of stressors, including discrimination, isolation, uncertainty, and mental health disorders from posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety alcohol, and substance use to posttraumatic stress symptoms ( 80 , 81 ). In addition to researchers, providers have acknowledged the importance of poverty, discrimination, and other structural barriers on the lived experiences of immigrant clients and how it may impact their health ( 80 ).

What Might be the Way Forward?

An aphorism commonly attributed to the former Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) director Don Berwick is “Every system is perfectly designed to achieve the results it gets.” Our society has been outstanding in perpetuating the conditions that lead to and maintain poverty for a disproportionately high percentage of people of color. Unlike many narratives about poverty and the innate values of people of color, no one wakes up wanting to be poor or sick. Similar to most other major institutions, the health profession has chosen to work around the margins of poverty and to study and practice what is the best way to treat patients with limited resources, limited social support, and multiple exposures that develop or worsen the disease. While the stature of the health profession has given it an immense level of privilege and power that could be used to achieve different results in a nation with immense wealth, we have chosen as a collective not to address the root causes because it would conflict with the white supremacy ideology of a caste-based society. Continuing the same approach to medical education in the setting of our rapidly increasing wealth gap will lead to training physicians and other healthcare providers on how to most effectively care for fewer and fewer people. Creating a new generation of healthcare providers dedicated to mitigating the many social factors that conspire to perpetuate health disparities is one important step toward how the profession can rebuild patient trust and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

The solutions must involve stakeholders from across diverse sectors ( 82 ). The medical community and related stakeholders should adopt a strategic approach to address the financial and related public policy issues that will enable the delivery of appropriate clinical care to marginalized patient populations including low those with low SES, minoritized communities, and non-European immigrants and refugees ( 40 , 48 , 54 , 83 ). The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was one such policy that dramatically increased the insurance coverage eligibility for a large number of low-income young Americans ( 84 ), with important consequences for mitigating health disparities as well as possibly reducing bankruptcy related to health care costs ( 85 ), although other data suggest that there has been no impact on bankruptcy ( 86 ). Barcellos et al. ( 87 ) reported persons with a lower income (100–250% FPL) were 31% less likely to score above the median on ACA knowledge and 54% less likely to score above the median on health insurance knowledge vs. persons with higher income levels (>400% FPL). These findings highlight the need to not only implement health policies to increase access to care for lower-income individuals but also the need to ensure such policies and associated programs are reaching those in need. The ACA may set the stage for not only more available care but also more structured medical care systems which can help improve health outcomes ( 88 ). However, improved outreach and education of the potential benefits of and access to the ACA in lower-income communities and support to ensure people are enrolled is still required ( 87 ).

A major challenge for the broader medical community is to reconceptualize how it might improve each domain that impacts health outcomes, beyond those limited to a procedure or prescription. Increasing the awareness of environmental and social factors that contribute to health disparities must be followed by actions, such as cost-effective policies, to improve disease prevention and care in impoverished communities, especially in the setting of increasing inequities in wealth and many of the other SDoH ( 88 – 92 ). Healthcare providers can directly address many of the factors crucial for closing the health disparities gap by recognizing and trying to mitigate the race-based implicit biases many physicians carry ( 93 ), as well as leveraging their privilege to address the elements of institutionalized racism entrenched within the fabric of our society, starting with social injustice and human indifference ( 91 , 94 ). Examples of evidence-based initiatives to mitigate untoward effects of socioeconomic deprivation include the use of videos and/or novellas ( 95 , 96 ), the use of social support, such as social networks ( 97 ), and primary intervention strategies including the use of mobile clinics, lay health workers, and patient navigators to address chronic diseases ( 98 – 101 ). Finally, the healthcare sector should not miss the opportunity to learn important lessons as it strives to advance the necessary policies to improve social welfare and health outcomes, as the existence of health inequities provides unique, unrecognized opportunities for understanding biological, environmental, sociocultural, and healthcare system factors that can improve clinical outcomes ( 88 – 92 ).

“ Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life”—Nelson Mandela former President of South Africa .

Data Availability Statement

Author contributions.

KN wrote the first draft of the manuscript. BB, MB, CF, and RT wrote sections of the manuscript. All author contributed to conception and design of the study, contributed to manuscript revision, read, and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Funding. This work was supported in part by NIH grants K02AG059140-02S1 (MB), P30AG059298 (MB and RT), R25HL126145 (MB, BB, KN, and RT), UL1TR000124 (KN), P30AG021684 (KN), K02AG059140 (RT), and U54MD000214 (RT). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Regions & Countries

Wealth surged in the pandemic, but debt endures for poorer black and hispanic families.

About one-in-four Black households and one-in-seven Hispanic households had no wealth or were in debt in 2021, compared with about one-in-ten U.S. households overall.

What the data says about food stamps in the U.S.

The food stamp program is one of the larger federal social welfare initiatives, and in its current form has been around for nearly six decades.

Financial Issues Top the List of Reasons U.S. Adults Live in Multigenerational Homes

Nearly four-in-ten men ages 25 to 29 now live with older relatives.

Most Black Americans say they can meet basic needs financially, but many still experience economic insecurity

Fewer than half of Black adults say they have a three-month emergency fund, and some have taken multiple jobs to make ends meet.

One-in-Ten Black People Living in the U.S. Are Immigrants

Immigrants – particularly those from African nations – are a growing share of the U.S. Black population.

Most Americans support a $15 federal minimum wage

About six-in-ten Americans (62%) say they favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, including 40% who strongly back the idea.

In the pandemic, India’s middle class shrinks and poverty spreads while China sees smaller changes

The course of the pandemic in India and China will have a substantial effect on changes in the distribution of income at the global level.

When it comes to raising the minimum wage, most of the action is in cities and states, not Congress

The $7.25 federal minimum wage is used in just 21 states, which collectively account for about 40% of all U.S. wage and salary workers.

Prior to COVID-19, child poverty rates had reached record lows in U.S.

In 2019, the share of American children living in poverty was on a downward trajectory, reaching record lows across racial and ethnic groups.

In Changing U.S. Electorate, Race and Education Remain Stark Dividing Lines

The gender gap in party identification remains the widest in a quarter century.

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March 2023 global poverty update from the World Bank: the challenge of estimating poverty in the pandemic

Samuel kofi tetteh baah, r. andres castaneda aguilar, carolina diaz-bonilla, christoph lakner, minh cong nguyen, martha viveros.

Global poverty estimates were updated today on the  Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) . This update includes new regional poverty aggregates in 2020 and 2021 for Latin America and the Caribbean, and in 2020 for Europe and Central Asia, and the group of advanced countries. These are the regions for which we now have sufficient survey data available during the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, 113 new country-years have been added, bringing the total number of surveys to more than 2,100.

This update also incorporates the usual changes to the input data, including revisions to existing welfare distributions, the inclusion of new welfare distributions, and revisions to price, national accounts, and population data used for global poverty monitoring (more details  here ). Overall, these changes have resulted in minor revisions in global and regional poverty estimates.

Table 1 summarizes the revisions to the regional and global poverty estimates between the September 2022 data vintage and the March 2023 data vintage for the 2019 reference year at all three poverty lines. The global poverty headcount ratio at $2.15 is revised slightly up by 0.1 percentage points to 8.5 percent, resulting in a revision in the number of poor people from 648 to 659 million. This revision represents 11 million more people living in extreme poverty, largely driven by South Asia (5 million) and the Middle East and North Africa (4 million).

Table 1 Poverty estimates for reference year 2019, changes between September 2022 and March 2023 vintage by region and poverty lines

Similar limited changes in poverty estimates are observed at the higher lines of $3.65 and $6.85, which are typically used for measuring poverty in lower-middle- and upper-middle-income countries, respectively. At $3.65, the global poverty headcount ratio increases by 0.1 percentage points to 23.6 percent, representing 28 million more people living in poverty. At $6.85, the global poverty rate increases by 0.2 percentage points to 46.9 percent, representing 44 million people living in poverty. The upward revisions in poverty estimates at the higher lines are largely driven by South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. 

This March 2023 global poverty update from the World Bank revises the previously published global and regional estimates from 1981 to 2019. Regional poverty estimates are now reported up to 2021, depending on sufficient data coverage over the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Poverty data are reported for Europe and Central Asia until 2020, and Latin America and the Caribbean until 2021. For all other developing regions, poverty data are reported for pre-pandemic years (see Figure 1). More details are available  here on how we have determined those regions for which to report post-2019 estimates.

Figure 1: Global and regional poverty estimates, 1990 - 2021

The data published in this PIP update, while incorporating more recent input data, do not change the overall perceptions about global poverty trends and the regional distribution of poverty. It is still the case that global poverty has been falling since the 1990s, and at a slower rate since 2014 ( World Bank 2022 ). Extreme poverty has been falling in all regions, except the Middle East and North Africa due to conflict and fragility ( World Bank 2020 ). Roughly 60% of the world’s extreme poor in 2019 lived in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, while 81% of the global poor at the poverty line of $3.65 lived in Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. 

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the UK Government through the Data and Evidence for Tackling Extreme Poverty (DEEP) Research Program.

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202 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples

Poverty is one of the most pressing global issues affecting millions of individuals. We want to share some intriguing poverty essay topics and research questions for you to choose the titles of your paper correctly. With the help of this collection, you can explore the intricate dimensions of poverty, its causes, consequences, and potential solutions. Have a look at our poverty topics to get a deeper understanding of poverty and its implications.

💸 TOP 10 Poverty Essay Topics

🏆 best poverty essay examples, 👍 catchy poverty research topics, 🧐 thought-provoking poverty topics, 🎓 interesting poverty essay topics, ❓ research questions about poverty.

• Poverty as a Social Problem
• Poverty: Causes and Solutions to Problem
• Homelessness and Poverty in Developed and Developing Countries
• The Eliminating Poverty Strategies
• Poverty Effects on an Individual
• Correlation Between Poverty and Juvenile Delinquency
• Poverty Effects on Mental Health
• Global Poverty and Nursing Intervention It is evident that poor health and poverty are closely linked. Community nurses who are conversant with the dynamics of the health of the poor can run successful health promotion initiatives.
• Degrading Consequences of Poverty in “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck Poverty is identity in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl, and the main character Kino, a poor fisherman, manifests a transformation in his identity,
• Relationship Between Poverty and Crime The paper makes the case and discusses inequality rather than poverty being the prime reason for people committing crimes.
• Poverty and Theories of Its Causes Poverty in schools is a significant barrier to education that needs to be overcome to improve teaching and learning.
• Effects of Poverty on Education in the USA Colleges It is clear that poverty affects not only the living standards and lifestyle of people but also the college education in the United States of America.
• Poverty from Functionalist and Rational Choice Perspectives Poverty is a persistent social phenomenon, which can be examined from both the functionalist and rational choice perspectives.
• The Analysis of Henry George’s “Crime of Poverty” Reviewing Henry George’s Crime of Poverty, which was written in 1885, in its historical context can shed light on socio-political developments within the country.
• The Orthodox and Alternative Poverty Explanations Comparison Poverty has over the years become a worldwide subject of concern for economies. This essay will explore two theories- the orthodox and the alternative theories to poverty.
• Effects of Divorce and Poverty in Families In the event of a divorce children are tremendously affected and in most cases attention is not given to them the way it should.
• Urbanization and Poverty in “Slumdog Millionaire” Film Boyle’s movie, “Slumdog Millionaire,” is one of many successful attempts to depict the conditions in which people who are below the poverty level live.
• The Problem of Poverty in Art of Different Periods Artists have always been at the forefront of addressing social issues, by depicting them in their works and attempting to draw the attention of the public to sensitive topics.
• Bullying in Poverty and Child Development Context The aim of the present paper is to investigate how Bullying, as a factor associated with poverty, affects child development.
• Vicious Circle of Poverty In this essay, the author describes the problem of poverty, its causes and ways of optimizing the economy and increasing production efficiency.
• The Poverty as an Ethical Issue Looking at poverty as an ethical issue, we have to consider the fact that there are people who control resource distribution, which then leads to wealth or poverty in a community.
• Poverty in “Serving in Florida” and “Dumpster Diving” “Serving in Florida” by Barbara Ehrenreich describes the harsh reality of living in poverty while concentrating on the pragmatic dimension of the issue
• Poverty and Homelessness in Jackson, Mississippi This paper will review the statistics and information about poverty and homelessness in Jackson, MS. The community of Black Americans is suffering from poverty and homelessness.
• Diana George’s Changing the Face of Poverty Book Diana George’s book, Changing the Face of Poverty, begins with a summary of several Thanksgiving commercials and catalogs.
• “What Is Poverty” by Dalrymple The purpose of this paper is to present Dalrymple point of view and analyze it by applying philosophical concepts.
• Poverty in “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner Essay “On Dumpster Diving” by Lars Eighner evokes compassion and prompts individuals to think about social problems existing nowadays.
• Empowerment and Poverty Reduction The objective of this essay will be to highlight the health issues caused by poverty and the strategies needed to change the situation of poor people through empowerment.
• How Does Poverty Affect Crime Rates? On the basis of this research question, the study could be organized and conducted to prove the following hypothesis – when poverty increases, crime rates increase as well.
• Poverty in Young and Middle Adulthood According to functionalism, poverty is a dysfunctional aspect of interrelated components, which is the result of improper structuring.
• Rutger Bregman’s Statement of Poverty The paper states that Bregman’s approach to poverty and the proposal of guaranteed regular income is more suitable for developing countries.
• The Ideal Society: Social Stratification and Poverty The paper argues social classes exist because of the variations in socioeconomic capacities in the world; however, an ideal society can eliminate them.
• Poverty: Causes and Reduction Measures Poverty is a global disaster and that a large percentage of the population has insufficient income or material possessions to satisfy their basic needs.
• Poverty Relation With Immigrants Poverty-related immigration is usually caused by population pressures; as the natural land becomes less productive due to the increased technology and industrial production.
• How Poverty Impacts on Life Chances, Experiences and Opportunities for Young People The paper specifically dwells on the social exclusion, class, and labeling theories to place youth poverty in its social context.
• The Concept of Poverty This work is aimed at identifying the key aspects associated with poverty and its impact on the lives of people in different contexts.
• The City of Atlanta, Georgia: Poverty and Homelessness This project goal is to address several issues in the community of the City of Atlanta. Georgia. The primary concern is the high rate of poverty and homelessness in the city.
• Global Poverty and Human Development Poverty rates across the globe continue to be a major issue that could impair the progress of humanity as a whole.
• Poverty and Homelessness in Canada Poverty and homelessness figure prominently in government policies and the aims of many social service organizations even in a country like Canada.
• Poverty: “$2.00 a Day” Book by Edin and Schaefer In their book “$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America,” Edin and Schaefer investigate problems that people who live in poverty face every day.
• Poverty from Christian Perspective Christians perceive poverty differently than people without faith, noting the necessity for integrated support to help those in need.
• Poverty and Inequality: Income and Wealth Inequality The Stanford Center of Poverty and Inequality does an in-depth job of finding causes and capturing statistics on poverty and inequality.
• Poverty in Ghana: Reasons and Solution Strategy The analysis provided in the paper revealed some internal and external factors that deter better economic and human development in Ghana.
• Lessons Learned From the Poverty Simulation The main lesson learned from the poverty simulation is that poverty is far more serious than depicted in the media, which carelessly documents the numbers of poor people.
• Wealth and Poverty Sources in America This paper explains the causes and consequences of poverty in the United States, programs and systems to combat it, and government benefits to support families in distress.
• Carl Hart’s Talk on Racism, Poverty, and Drugs In his TED Talk, Carl Hart, a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University who studies drug addiction, exposes a relationship between racism, poverty, and drugs.
• Poverty in the “LaLee’s Kin” Documentary In this paper, the author will analyse poverty as a social problem in the Mississippi Delta. The issue will be analysed from the perspective of the documentary “LaLee’s Kin”.
• How Poverty Affects Early Education? A number of people live in poor conditions. According to the researchers of the Department of Education in the United States, poverty influences academic performance in an adverse way.
• Human Trafficking and Poverty Discussion This paper synthesize information on human trafficking and poverty by providing an annotated bibliography of relevant sources.
• Racial Discrimination and Poverty Racial discrimination and poverty have resulted in health disparities and low living standards among African Americans in the United States.
• Poverty and Its Negative Impact on Society Poverty affects many people globally, experiencing poor living conditions, limited access to education, unemployment, poor infrastructure, malnutrition, and child labor.
• Should People Be Ashamed of Poverty? People on welfare should not feel ashamed because the definition of poverty does not necessarily place them in the category of the poor.
• How Access to Clean Water Influences the Problem of Poverty Since people in some developing countries have insufficient water supply even now, they suffer from starvation, lack of hygiene, and water-associated diseases.
• Global Poverty and Education Economic theories like liberalization, deregulation, and privatization were developed to address global poverty.
• Poverty and Mental Health Correlation The analysis of the articles provides a comprehensive understanding of the poverty and mental health correlation scale and its current state.
• World Poverty as a Global Social Problem Poverty and the key methods helping to reduce it attract the attention of numerous researchers in different areas of expertise.
• Utilitarianism: Poverty Reduction Through Charity This paper shows that poverty levels can be reduced if wealthy individuals donate a part of their earnings, using the main principles of the utilitarian theory.
• Immigrant Children and Poverty Immigrant child poverty poses considerable social predicaments, because it is related to several long lasting school and development linked difficulties.
• Poverty, Politics, and Profit as US Policy Issue Poverty remains one of the most intractable problems to deal with, both in the international community and in the United States.
• Poverty and Social Causation Hypothesis There are two identified approaches to poverty on cultural and individual levels as formulated by Turner and Lehning
• Poverty: Behavioral, Structural, Political Factors The research paper will primarily argue that poverty is a problem caused by a combination of behavioral, structural, and political systems.
• Poverty and Poor Health: Access to Healthcare Services Health disparities affecting ethnical and racial groups, as well as people with low income, operate through the social environments, access to healthcare services.
• Poverty, Faith, and Justice: ”Liberating God of Life” by Elizabeth Johnson “Liberating God of Life Context: Wretched Poverty” by Johnson constructs that the main goal of human beings is to combat structural violence toward the poor.
• Love and Poverty in My Papa’s Waltz by Theodore Roethke The present paper includes a brief analysis of the poem ‘My Papa’s Waltz’ with a focus on imagery and figurative language.
• Attitudes to Poverty: Singer’s Arguments Singer argues against the observation by the rich than helping one poor person can repeat over and over again until the rich eventually becomes poor.
• The Issue of Poverty in Savannah, Georgia The paper addresses a serious issue that still affects Savannah, Georgia, and it is poverty. This problem influences both individuals and society.
• Child’s Development and Education: Negative Effects of Poverty Some adverse effects of poverty on a child’s development and education are poor performance academically, stagnant physical development, and behavioral issues.
• Evaluating the “Expertness” of the Southern Law Poverty Center The Southern Law Poverty Center has garnered controversy for its list of so-called “hate groups” and how it spends its half-billion-dollar budget.
• Christ’s Relationships with Wealth and Poverty This paper attempts to examine Christ’s relationships with wealth, money and poverty and provide an analysis of these relationships.
• Hard Questions About Living in Poverty or Slavery The paper aims to find the answers to several questions, for example, how to remain human while living in the conditions of extreme poverty or slavery.
• African American Families in Poverty Even though the United States declares the equality of white and black people quite often, the socio-economic situation of African Americans still need changes for the better.
• Wealth, Poverty, and Systems of Economic Class By examining wealth, poverty, and economic classes from the perspective of social justice, the socioeconomic inequalities persistent in society will become clear.
• The U.S. Education: Effect of Poverty Poverty effects on education would stretch to other aspects of life and this justifies that, poverty in United States not only affects social lifestyles but also college education.
• Gay and Poverty Marriage The institution of family and the issues of marriage play a crucial role in society today. Marriage status determines relations between spouses and their relations with the state.
• Poverty in New York City and Media Representation This paper will analyze recent news publications regarding the urban issue of poverty in NYC and determine how the city is represented in the media.
• Poverty from a Sociological Standpoint Poverty is a complex phenomenon, in which many explicit and implicit factors are involved. Some individuals tend not to perceive this phenomenon as critical.
• Poverty: The Negative Effects on Children Poor children often do not have access to quality healthcare, so they are sicker and more likely to miss school. Poor children are less likely to have weather-appropriate clothes.
• The Issue of the Poverty in the USA The most sustainable technique for poverty elimination in the United States is ensuring equitable resource distribution, education, and healthcare access.
• Poverty and How This Problem Can Be Solved Poverty is one of the global social problems of our time, existing even in the countries of the first world despite the generally high standard of living of people.
• Poverty: An Interplay of Social and Economic Psychology The paper demonstrates an interplay of social and economic psychology to scrutinize the poverty that has given rise to a paycheck-to-paycheck nation.
• Refugees: Poverty, Hunger, Climate Change, and Violence Individuals struggling with poverty, hunger, climate change, and gender-based violence and persecution may consider fleeing to the United States.
• The Extent of Poverty in the United States The paper states that the issue of poverty in the USA is induced by a butterfly effect, starting with widespread discrimination and lack of support.
• Poverty in Puerto Rico and Eradication Measures Studying Puerto Rican poverty as a social problem is essential because it helps identify the causes, effects, and eradication measures in Puerto Rico and other nations.
• Human Trafficking and Poverty Issues in Modern Society The problem of human trafficking affects people all over the world, which defines the need for a comprehensive approach to this issue from the criminology perspective.
• Poverty and Homelessness Among African Americans Even though the U.S. is wealthy and prosperous by global measures, poverty has persisted in the area, with Blacks accounting for a larger share.
• Poverty: Resilience and Intersectionality Theories This paper assesses the impact of poverty on adult life, looking at risk and protective factors and the impact of power and oppression on the experience of poverty.
• Economic Inequality and Its Relationship to Poverty This research paper will discuss the problem of economic inequality and show how this concept relates to poverty.
• Discussion of Poverty and Social Trends The advances and consequent demands on society grounded on social class and trends profoundly influence poverty levels.
• Life of Humanity: Inequality, Poverty, and Tolerance The paper concerns the times in which humanity, and especially the American people, live, not forgetting about inequality, poverty, and tolerance.
• Poverty, Its Social Context, and Solutions Understanding past and present poverty statistics is essential for developing effective policies to reduce the rate of poverty at the national level.
• Poverty in the US: “Down and Out in Paris and London” by Orwell The essay compares the era of George Orwell to the United States today based on the book “Down and Out in Paris and London” in terms of poverty.
• Is It Possible to Reduce Poverty in the United States? Reducing poverty in the United States is possible if such areas as education, employment, and health care are properly examined and improved for the public’s good.
• Poverty Among Seniors Age 65 and Above The social problem is the high poverty rate among older people aged 65 and above. Currently, there are millions of elderly who are living below the poverty line.
• Poverty in 1930s Europe and in the 21st Century US The true face of poverty may be found in rural portions of the United States’ South and Southwest regions, where living standards have plummeted, and industries have yet to begin.
• Chronic Poverty and Disability in the UK The country exhibits absolute poverty and many other social issues associated with under-developed states. The issue is resolvable through policy changes.
• Social Issue of Poverty in America The paper states that poverty is not an individual’s fault but rather a direct result of social, economic, and political circumstances.
• Poverty, Housing, and Community Benefits The community will benefit from affordable housing and business places, creating job opportunities for the residents and mentoring and apprenticeship.
• The Uniqueness of the Extent of the Poverty Rate in America The United States ranked near the top regarding poverty and inequality, and compared to other developed countries, income and wealth disparity in the United States is high.
• Globalization and Poverty: Trade Openness and Poverty Reduction in Nigeria Globalization can be defined as the process of interdependence on the global culture, economy, and population. It is brought about by cross-border trade.
• Inequality and Poverty in the United States One of the most common myths is that the United States (US) is a meritocracy, where anyone can succeed if they maintain industriousness.
• Christian Perspective on Poverty Several Christian interpretations have different ideas about poverty and wealth. This paper aims to discuss the Christian perspective on poverty.
• Poverty and Problematic Housing in California The question is what are the most vulnerable aspects of the administrative system that lead to an aggravation of the situation of homelessness.
• Race, Poverty, and Incarceration in the United States The American justice system, in its current form, promotes disproportionally high incarceration rates among blacks and, to a lesser degree, Latinos from poor urban neighborhoods.
• Global Poverty and Factors of Influence This paper introduces a complex perspective on the issue of global poverty, namely, incorporating economic, social, cultural, and environmental factors into the analysis.
• Poverty Causes and Solutions in Latin America This paper aims to understand the importance of the interference of Europe in Latin American affairs and its referring to the general principles of poverty.
• Gary Haugen’s Speech on Violence and Poverty In his speech, Gary Haugen discusses the causes of poverty and concludes that violence is a hidden problem that should be addressed and eliminated.
• The Child Poverty Problem in Alabama Alabama has a very high rate of child poverty, where a quarter or 24% of all children can be categorized as poor.
• Poverty Among Blacks in America
• Relationship Between Poverty and Health People in 2020
• Solving the Problem of Poverty in Mendocino County
• “Promises and Poverty”: Starbucks Conceals Poverty and Deterioration of the Environment
• Global Poverty and Economic Globalization Relations
• Poverty Prevalence and Causes in the United States
• Policy Development to Overcome Child Poverty in the U.S.
• Global Poverty: Tendencies, Causes and Impacts
• The Impact of Poverty on Children and Minority Groups
• Habitat for the Homeless: Poverty
• The Problem of Poverty Among Children
• Global Issues of World Poverty: Reasons and Solutions
• Effects of Poverty on Health Care in the US and Afghanistan
• Poverty Among Children from Immigrant Workers
• “8 Million Have Slipped Into Poverty Since May as Federal Aid Has Dried Up” by Jason DeParle
• Teenage Pregnancy After Exposure to Poverty: Causation and Communication
• Poverty and Covid-19 in Developing Countries
• Poverty in America: Socio-Economic Inequality
• Poverty and Its Effects Upon Special Populations
• Global Poverty and Education Correlation
• American Dream and Poverty in the United States
• Changing the Face of Poverty
• The Link Between Poverty and Criminal Behavior
• The Cost of Saving: The Problem of Poverty
• Sociological Issues About Social Class and Poverty, Race and Ethnicity, Gender
• Speech on Mother Teresa: Poverty and Interiority in Mother Teresa
• Federal Poverty, Welfare, and Unemployment Policies
• Aid Agency Discussing Different Solutions to Poverty in Urban Areas
• Poverty Elimination in Perspective
• Marriage and Divorce: Poverty Among Divorced Women
• Is Debt Cancellation the Answer to World Poverty?
• Reduction of Poverty in the Rural Areas Through ICT
• Trade Effect on Environmentalism and Poverty

🌶️ Hot Poverty Ideas to Write about

• “Combating Poverty in Latin America” by Robyn Eversole
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• Donald Trump’s Policies of Poverty and Human Rights
• Poverty and Homelessness: Dimensions and Constructions
• Henry George’s “Progress and Poverty” Book
• Poverty Among the USA Citizens and Reduction Efforts
• Standards of the Ethical Code: Children and Poverty
• Household Energy Use and Poverty
• Can Marriage End Poverty?
• Grameen Banking System Alleviating Poverty
• Brazil’ Poverty and Inequality
• Child Poverty Assessment in Canada
• National Conversation about Poverty
• Poverty and Welfare Policies in the United States
• Poverty in “The Bottom Billion” by Paul Collier
• Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking and Poverty
• Poverty and Violence During the Mexican Revolution
• Affordable Housing Programs in “Poverty in America”
• School System: Poverty and Education
• The Government of Bangladesh: Corruption and Poverty
• Poverty in “I Beat the Odds” by Oher and Yaegar
• Inequality in Australia: Poverty Rates and Globalism
• The Issue of World Poverty and Ways to Alleviate the Poverty in the World
• Problem of World Poverty
• Drug’s, Poverty’s and Beauty’s Effects on Health
• Can Authorization Reduce Poverty Among Undocumented Immigrants?
• Can Higher Employment Levels Bring Lower Poverty in the EU?
• Are Private Transfers Poverty and Inequality Reducing?
• Can Group-Based Credit Uphold Smallholder Farmers Productivity and Reduce Poverty in Africa?
• Can Anti-Poverty Programs Improve Family Functioning and Enhance Children’s Well-Being?
• Can Laziness Explain Poverty in America?
• Are Social Exclusion and Poverty Measures Interrelated?
• Can Increasing Smallholder Farm Size Broadly Reduce Rural Poverty in Zambia?
• Can Crop Purchase Programs Reduce Poverty and Improve Welfare in Rural Communities?
• Does Aid Availability Affect Effectiveness in Reducing Poverty?
• Can Employer Credit Checks Create Poverty Traps?
• Are the Poverty Effects of Trade Policies Invisible?
• Can Foreign Aid Reduce Poverty?
• Are Education Systems Modern as Well as Practical Enough to Eliminate Unemployment, and Thus Poverty?
• Can High-Inequality Developing Countries Escape Absolute Poverty?
• Are Inequality and Trade Liberalization Influences on Growth and Poverty?
• Can Globalisation Realistically Solve World Poverty?
• Are Urban Poverty and Undernutrition Growing?
• Can Big Push Interventions Take Small-Scale Farmers Out of Poverty?
• Can Civilian Disability Pensions Overcome the Poverty Issue?
• Are Poverty Rates Underestimated in China?
• Does Agriculture Help Poverty and Inequality Reduction?
• Can Agricultural Households Farm Their Way Out of Poverty?
• Are Income Poverty and Perceptions of Financial Difficulties Dynamically Interrelated?
• Are Bangladesh’s Recent Gains in Poverty Reduction Different From the Past?
• Can Cash Transfers Help Households Escape an Intergenerational Poverty Trap?
• Are Remittances Helping Lower Poverty and Inequality Levels in Latin America?
• Can Foreign Aid Reduce Income Inequality and Poverty?
• Can Child-Care Subsidies Reduce Poverty?
• Can Income Inequality Reduction Be Used as an Instrument for Poverty Reduction?

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StudyCorgi . 2021. "202 Poverty Essay Topics & Examples." September 9, 2021. https://studycorgi.com/ideas/poverty-essay-topics/.

These essay examples and topics on Poverty were carefully selected by the StudyCorgi editorial team. They meet our highest standards in terms of grammar, punctuation, style, and fact accuracy. Please ensure you properly reference the materials if you’re using them to write your assignment.

This essay topic collection was updated on January 8, 2024 .

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149 Poverty Essay Topics, Examples, & Title Ideas

📝 poverty essay examples, 💡 poverty essay topics, 🪝 catchy titles about poverty to explore, 🌶️ hot poverty research titles, ❓ poverty research topics & questions, 🌍 research topics on poverty in africa, 🇺🇸 essay topics on poverty in america, 💸 titles about poverty in the philippines, 📣 poverty questions for discussion.

Poverty is a complex issue that have affected millions of people around the world for centuries. Scholars define poverty as the state of being unable to meet one’s basic needs for food, shelter, and other necessities. The issue can have far-reaching and devastating consequences for individuals, families, and whole communities.

This collection of poverty essay topics contains research questions, ideas, and titles on poverty in America, Africa, and the Philippines. They are suitable for an argumentative essay, research paper, or speech. You are welcome to use our wealth and poverty essay examples as prompts to make your own research on poverty.

• Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Role in Society The paper will outline the various things that Bill Gates has done in helping the unprivileged people, and in improving education in the United States.
• Single Mothers in Poverty Many of the single mothers, cannot secure lucrative jobs that would earn them enough income to meet their daily needs and the needs of their children.
• Bill Gates Life and Career Computer programming was a job that Bill Gates loved, and fortunately, his dream became true after occupying himself with computer programming at a tender age.
• The Relationship between Money and Happiness Various academic studies have shown that there is, indeed, a connection between the money you have and your level of happiness, but this connection is not very strong.
• Problem of Hunger in Modern World The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed discussion on hunger. The discussion will begin with an overview of the state of hunger in various parts of the world.
• Immigrants and Immigration Policies: Women and Migration International laws have a provision that mandates states to draft immigration policies. Immigration laws and policies of the US have failed to uphold the rights of immigrants.
• Child Labor, Its Causes, Effects, Counterpolicies The paper gives a broader view of the causes and effects of child labor, economic and socio-cultural perspectives, and efforts put to stop child labor.
• Medical Issues that Arise from Being Overworked The paper discusses overwork in context with middle and lower classes that are affected by the overworked and hectic schedule and medical issues they gain.
• Illegal Immigration Process Analysis Illegal immigration refers to migration across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country.
• Poverty and Children in the United States Children are said to live in poverty when they are not able to have a minimum, decent standard of living that allows them to live a normal life in society.
• Poverty and Children in the United States Discussing the issue of the present day chronic cycle of poverty, it would be relevant to mention that children might be regarded as the most unprotected social group that suffers form the above mentioned problem.
• Extraction of Natural Resources and Production The research paper aims to investigate factors responsible for excessive exploitation of natural resources.
• Poverty in America Poverty denotes the state of affairs where there are no ways of managing to pay for crucial human requirements which include food, clean water, schooling, clothes, and shelter.
• Discrimination in the 21st Century for African Americans and Minorities USA as a country has made great steps in addressing the disparity and inequality among the various groups since the period of Civil Rights movements.
• Satire by Swift: A Modest Proposal The essay had painted a live picture of the tremendous poverty of Irish people in the early eighteenth century.
• Assessing and Recommending Quantitative Research Design The three different types of quantitative research designs have their own weaknesses and strengths, this makes the research designs to be applicable in different situations.
• Connection Between War and Poverty The paper will identify and discuss abuse, isolation, hostility and reliance has some of the causes of conflicts.
• Vicious Circle of Poverty in Brazil Brazil is faced with major environmental degradation issues such as deforestation, water pollution, and floods.
• Effects of the Global Recession on Tourism Tourism enables the country to earn foreign exchange. On the other hand, the social and economic benefits of tourism have greatly been destabilized by the recent global recession.
• Overrepresentation of Aboriginal People in Crime Why are the Aboriginal people suspected of so much crime given the basis of their history, describes the Bond theory relating it to the topic.
• Challenges That Multicultural Children Face in the US This essay will discuss the following points regarded as the challenges multicultural families face: alienation, poverty, unemployment, discrimination, desired policies.
• Politics of HIV/Aids and Social and Cultural Prejudice The paper looks at how the politics HIV/AIDS have operated as a conduit for social and cultural prejudice because the its prevalence has been associated with society culture.
• Socioeconomic Conditions Can Lead to Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Abuse of Children Wealth, access to education, parents' occupation, health, income, and housing are significant in avoiding child abuse. Discussion of the importance of socioeconomic conditions.
• How Food Insecurity Affects Children’s Education Food insecurity can also be harmful to academic performance. As a result, a poorly-educated individual has low income and continue suffering from world hunger.
• Diverty and the Limitations of Poverty in Victorian London
• Agricultural Water Management and Poverty in Ethiopia
• Poverty or Low Income as a Cause of Crime Debates about causes of crime have been raging on and they revolve around economic models of causation that deal with the utility of crime.
• Food Price Spikes: Price Insulation and Poverty
• Anti-Poverty Transfers and Spatial Prices in Tunisia
• Poverty and Juvenile Delinquency This paper will set out to analyze the relationship between poverty and juvenile delinquency in order to explain the strong correlation between the two.
• Food Poverty and Livelihoods Issues in Rural Nigeria
• Food Poverty and Its Causes in Pakistan
• Crime and Poverty: Causes of Crime, Effects of Crime, and Solutions This study explains what crime and poverty are, the causes of crime using the structural-functionalist theory, the effects of crime and the measures to be taken to avert this problem.
• Ethnic Stereotypes and Preferences on Poverty Assistance
• European Union Poverty Poor Rate
• Healthcare and Poverty at the Global Level Poor people often do not have access to proper treatment. This issue is becoming global and needs to be addressed not only at the national but also at the international level.
• Drugs and Their Impact on Poverty
• Food Prices and Poverty Reduction in the Long Run
• Poverty and Poor Health Relations The researches that will be examined in this paper suggest that a link between the prevalence of infections, noncommunicable, and mental health diseases exists.
• Connection Between Human Trafficking and Poverty
• Generating Disaggregated Poverty Maps
• Living Conditions and Behavioral & Mental Patterns The central paper’s theory states that a person’s life circumstances directly influence his behavior patterns.
• Feminist Explanations for the Feminization of Poverty
• Evaluation of Different Sociological Measures of Poverty
• Examination of Major Effects of Poverty on Children’s Education Quality education is a necessary part of a growing individual’s life, allowing them to obtain access to unique possibilities and secure a successful path.
• Food Poverty Profile and Decomposition Applied to Ghana
• Christian Beliefs Concerning World Poverty
• Economic Growth and Child Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh and China
• Different Ways People Look at Poverty
• Ethnic Inequality and Poverty in Malaysia Since 1969
• General Public Poverty Aid for Individuals
• Global Biofuel Production and Poverty in China
• Distribution-Sensitive Multidimensional Poverty Measures
• Classification Trees for Poverty Mapping
• Market-Based Solutions for Global Poverty
• Food Poverty Index for Venezuelan Households
• Child Poverty and Child Well-Being in Italy
• Absolute and Relative Deprivation and the Measurement of Poverty
• Gender, Time Use, and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Gender-Sensitive Poverty Mapping for the US
• Food Poverty and Solidarity Networks in Italy
• Fertility, Household Size, and Poverty in Nepal
• Agricultural Policies for Poverty Reduction
• Financial Deepening and Poverty Reduction in Zambia
• Effects of Poverty on Mental Health People who live in economically disadvantaged communities face several challenges pertaining to their mental health.
• Economic Growth and Development as a Tool for Poverty Overcoming
• Choosing Rural Road Investments to Help Reduce Poverty
• Minimum Wage and the Poverty Gap This paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of an increase in the minimum wage policy and does an increase in minimum wage decrease the poverty gap.
• Combating Poverty Through Self Reliance
• The Connection Between Child Poverty and Economic Growth
• Globalization and Poverty Eradication There is reason to believe that globalization can work for everyone. This paper will extrapolate five issues and how they contribute to globalization and poverty eradication.
• Agricultural Water Management and Poverty Linkages
• Capital Account Liberalisation and Poverty
• Ethnicity, Caste, and Religion: Implications for Poverty Outcomes
• Can Laziness Explain Poverty in America?
• Does Forest Conversion Promote Growth and Alleviate Poverty?
• Can Globalisation Realistically Solve World Poverty?
• Can Microfinance Aid Poverty Reduction?
• Does Increasing Minimum Wage Decrease Poverty?
• How Does Poverty Affect People’s Health and Well-Being?
• Does Globalization Cause Poverty?
• Can Employer Credit Checks Create Poverty Traps?
• Does Inequality Matter for Poverty Reduction?
• How China Escaped the Poverty Trap?
• Does Inequality Constraint Poverty Reduction Programs?
• How Bad Governance Impedes Poverty Alleviation in Bangladesh?
• How Does Level of Education Relate to Poverty?
• Why Are Child Poverty Rates So Persistently High in Spain?
• Does Corruption Affect Income Inequality and Poverty?
• How Are Poverty and Migration Linked?
• How Can Agricultural Trade Reform Reduce Poverty?
• What Does Generational Poverty Mean?
• How Does Gender Relate to Poverty Status?
• Does Foreign Direct Investment Reduce Poverty?
• How Does Child Poverty Effect Crime Rates Amongst Teens and Young Adults?
• The causes of poverty in Africa
• The impact of poverty on health in Africa
• African Region Poverty Debates and Policy Brief To address the issue of poverty in Africa, economic stimulus is needed: governments should provide their citizens with grants to sponsor their small businesses.
• Education and poverty reduction in Africa
• The role of international aid in addressing poverty in Africa
• Corruption on poverty in Africa: are they related?
• The role of economic policies in reducing poverty in Africa
• Poverty and conflict in Africa: are these issues connected?
• Climate change and poverty in Africa
• The role of microfinance in reducing poverty in Africa
• The potential of entrepreneurship to alleviate poverty in Africa
• Poverty and mental health in the United States
• Gentrification and poverty in urban America
• Media and public perceptions of poverty in America
• Technology, job market, and poverty in the US
• Lessons on Poverty and Gender Identification I have developed lessons that will enhance students’ knowledge when dealing with poverty and gender identification.
• Poverty and American criminal justice system
• Immigration on poverty in the US: what is the connection?
• The impact of environmental degradation on poverty in America
• Breaking the cycle of poverty in the Philippines
• The impact of corruption on poverty in the Philippines
• Poverty, health, and quality of life in the Philippines
• International aid: what is its impact on poverty in the Philippines?
• Poverty and gender inequality: the case of the Philippines
• How Does Poverty Affect Access to Quality Education?
• What Are the Economic Consequences of Persistent Poverty?
• How Is Poverty Portrayed in the Media?
• What Role Does Government Policy Play in Reducing Poverty Rates?
• How Does Poverty Affect the Future?
• Does Poverty Lead to Crime?
• Can Technology Eliminate Poverty?
• What Are the Social Determinants of Poverty in Urban Areas?
• How Does Poverty Impact Mental Health and Well-Being?
• What Are the Best Ways to Reduce Poverty in Africa?
• Is Poverty a Necessary Constant in the Mechanics of a Capitalist Society?
• Can Microfinance Effectively Combat Poverty in Developing Nations?
• What Is the Difference Between Absolute Poverty and Relative Poverty?
• Is Poverty in America Similar or Different to Poverty in Third-World Countries?
• Which Country Has the Lowest Rate of Poverty?
• How Do Cultural Factors Perpetuate Cycles of Poverty?
• What Is the Relationship Between Poverty and Food Insecurity?
• How Does Poverty Lead to Social Injustices?
• Can Affordable Housing Initiatives Alleviate Urban Poverty?
• How Does the Lack of Education Cause Poverty?
• What Role Does Globalization Play in Poverty Reduction?
• Is Poverty a State of Mind?
• How Does Poverty Affect the Elderly Population?
• What Strategies Can Be Implemented to Address Urban Poverty?
• How Do Inequality and Poverty Impact Businesses?
• Is the Problem of Poverty Going to Be Effectively Resolved?
• Can Universal Basic Income Reduce Poverty Rates?
• Does Poverty Violate the Right to Equal Access to Basic Services?
• What Are the Effects of Poverty on Childhood Development?
• How Does Poverty Contribute to Environmental Degradation?

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Poverty Research Proposal

Introduction, poverty: statement of the problem, significance of the study, relevant literature review, methodology.

For a long time, poverty has been perceived to constitute lack or inadequacy of basic needs, including food, clothing, and shelter. The levels by which different societies achieve these three basic essentials vary, and this explains the differences in poverty levels among different societies. Today, America is described to have the highest level of poverty rate compared to other industrialized countries (Garcia, 2011).

To justify this, the recent and most current statistics from the Census Bureau shows that the level and rate of poverty in USA is increasing, with minority ethnic groups being the most disadvantaged (Dye, 2010).

In the past, numerous poverty reduction policies have been formulated and implemented, but their overall impact remains below expectations, as the main beneficiaries are the middle class in expense of the poor (Dye, 2010). Therefore, the situation calls for paradigm shift in policy formulation and implementation.

In the year 2010, poverty rate in USA stood at 15.1% up from 14.3% recorded in the previous year-2009 (USA Census Bureau, 2011). At the same time, it was noted that poverty rate for the last four years has been increasing at an estimated rate of 2.6%.

On overall, in 2010, estimates indicated that about 46.2 million Americans are poor and the rate of poverty increased was observed to affect almost all major ethnic groups in America: Whites, African American, Asians, Hispanic (USA Census Bureau, 2011).

Furthermore, the 2010 official statistics indicated the highest rate of poverty the country had experienced and recorded since 1993. Therefore, in order to address this issue of increasing poverty, there is need to conduct an action research that investigates public policy initiatives in USA with regard to poverty, and subsequently propose the most effective public policy that can be pursued successfully.

Poverty remains an issue that ought to be addressed in the American society as a way of achieving the American Dream. Social inclusion goals and objectives postulate that, the well-being of humankind is the essence of stability, peace, and societal development.

Therefore, addressing poverty is one way of achieving social inclusion goals. At the same time, there is need for an effective public policy that comprehensively addresses the issues of poverty in the country. Therefore, this study possesses the ability to create a sound body of knowledge that in turn can be used to create an effective public policy framework.

Poverty level in USA is increasing at gradual rate, and the overall impact of this to the society is huge (Garcia, 2011). Addressing poverty has assumed and utilized unilateral public policy models that in turn have led to inadequacy in tackling the issue of poverty.

For instance, many of the convectional poverty policies address education, employment, social security, health, economic growth, and tax (Anonymous, 2006). This has been done in separateness and the result has been construction, formulation, and implementation of skewed and weak poverty reduction models.

There is need to establish broad-based understanding of poverty and know that it interplays with other factors and elements simultaneously, hence any attempt to address poverty requires addressing the interplay of accompanying factors.

According to Corak (2005), in order to fight poverty, social and physical infrastructure and services can be funded and maintained effectively if the target groups are involved in designing, implementing, and monitoring them, as well as in ensuring accountability of the government officials responsible for such policies.

Primary and secondary research methods will be utilized, where primary data will be generated through actual field research techniques, while secondary data will be generated from works already done in the field. Furthermore, reliability and validity of information will be enhanced through use of both quantitative and qualitative techniques.

This will see the use of questionnaires, field interviews, poverty program surveys, and in-depth discussion. The aim of this will be to ensure that the public policy to be designed captures the aspect and essence of poverty and subsequent reduction strategies in broad perspective.

Poverty remains a social issue that requires clear strategies of addressing it. Efforts in the past have bore fruits, but given recent trends of increasing cases of poverty in the society, there is an urgent need to address poverty comprehensively. It is from this fact that it is recommended that addressing poverty in modern America require an action plan originating from an inclusive and integrated social equity policy strategy.

Anonymous. (2006). How can we solve the problem of poverty . Web.

Corak, M (2005). Equality of Opportunity and Inequality across the Generations: Challenges Ahead. Policy Options , 26(3), 78–83.

Dye, T.R. (2010). Understanding public policy (13th ed.). Longman: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Garcia, G. (2011). Mexican American and Immigrant Poverty in the United States . NY: Springer.

USA Census Bureau . (2011). ‘Poverty Highlights . USA Federal Press. Web.

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Abstract: In scientific research and its application, scientific literature analysis is crucial as it allows researchers to build on the work of others. However, the fast growth of scientific knowledge has led to a massive increase in scholarly articles, making in-depth literature analysis increasingly challenging and time-consuming. The emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) has offered a new way to address this challenge. Known for their strong abilities in summarizing texts, LLMs are seen as a potential tool to improve the analysis of scientific literature. However, existing LLMs have their own limits. Scientific literature often includes a wide range of multimodal elements, such as molecular structure, tables, and charts, which are hard for text-focused LLMs to understand and analyze. This issue points to the urgent need for new solutions that can fully understand and analyze multimodal content in scientific literature. To answer this demand, we present Uni-SMART (Universal Science Multimodal Analysis and Research Transformer), an innovative model designed for in-depth understanding of multimodal scientific literature. Through rigorous quantitative evaluation across several domains, Uni-SMART demonstrates superior performance over leading text-focused LLMs. Furthermore, our exploration extends to practical applications, including patent infringement detection and nuanced analysis of charts. These applications not only highlight Uni-SMART's adaptability but also its potential to revolutionize how we interact with scientific literature.

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