Australia has areas which can be classified as poverty-stricken.
POVERTY
Like every other country in the world Australia has areas which can be classified as poverty-stricken. Even though the minority of people in these areas may not always be poor we classify them as poor because they live in poverty stricken areas. Poverty is a major concern in all countries as it wrecks the economy and disrupts the social balance of a country's economy if it gets out of hand.
There are many causes for poverty but the most common one is that the poor do not earn a large enough income to be able to live a normal life. This lack of income can be caused from numerous reasons including lack of work skills, unable to get a job because of a criminal record, not being suited to the job or being unable to keep and hold a job for prolonged periods of time. Many of the people stricken by poverty and who live on the streets have a mental illness of one kind or another, which destroys any chances of them getting a job. These people do not know how to interact correctly with society, as they have no knowledge of how to interact with people. Many of the people with mental illness end up poor and on the streets after the closure of hospitals and institutions for the mentally challenged or disabled. Another major cause of poverty is that although many poor people have jobs the money that they earn is spent on drugs, alcohol or other types of addictions. They have to spend the money they earn on their addictions otherwise they think they won’t be able to survive. Age and gender can also determine if you are poor or not, because even though you may be a financially stable person for your age and gender you might be classified as poor by everyone else’s standards because your wealth is considered to be below the national poverty line. Where you live plays an important part in whether you are rich or poor because in some areas the majority of people may be classified as poor, which means that your area is poor. The government may say you are poor because you live in a rich area and the opposite may be true if you are poor and live in a rich area. Other factors which can lead to poverty are the number of children you have. If you are a single parent with 4 children then whatever you earn is going to go straight into looking after them as well as yourself which leaves nothing leftover which ultimately classifies you as poor. Poor education is a major cause of poverty because many businesses will not hire a person unless they have completed a certain degree of schooling. Some jobs require University degrees and certain people may not be able to afford University courses. This means that these people then get a low paying job which is just able to pay for their child’s schooling but is unable to pay for their university course or high school schooling. This cycle then continues with their children and their children’s children and so on in a never-ending cycle, which is represented below.
