What is God's Will as we Confront Poverty?
Some Statistics

Justice and Witness Ministries Coordinator Noelle Damico.

Justice and Witness Ministries, coordinated by Noelle Damico, compiled these facts to help us understand why it is essential that we seek God's will regarding our relations to the poor and oppressed.

More than 1.2 billion people - one in every five on Earth - survive on less than $1 a day, the majority of whom are women.

In the United States, 34.6 million people, including 12.1 million children, live below the federal threshold for poverty.

In the United States, 95 million have one or more housing problems; that is 35% of the population.

There are 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of whom are children, who are homeless on any given night in the United States.

Nearly 44 million Americans, including 8.5 million children, have no health care coverage.

Worldwide, by the end of 2000, some 22 million people had died from AIDS, which caused 13 million children to lose either their mother or both parents.

We studied the material given to us regarding poverty around the world.

One in five American children live in poverty and attend a school that is poorly funded.

More than 113 million children in the developing world are without access to basic education; 60% of them are girls.

Nearly 35 million Americans live in homes at risk of hunger.

While the absolute numbers of persons on the welfare rolls have dropped from 5.8 million in 2000 to 5 million in 2002, the number of persons in the United States living in poverty rose from 31.6 to 34.6 million during the same period.

Children, women and people of color experience higher rates of poverty in the United States . The US Census shows the overall percentage of persons who live below the poverty line increased from 11.7% in 2001 to 12.1% in 2002. The poverty rates for children, African Americans, Hispanics and single moms were much higher than these national averages. Among children, the poverty rate was 16.7%.

The amount of money that the richest 1 per cent of the world's population make each year equals what the poorest 57% make.



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