Poverty

Poverty is the single biggest threat that humanity faces. Almost every issue that humanity is confronting recently, such as hunger, diseases, child labour, etc, fall under poverty. It is surely the worst case and if the condition continues to aggravate, there is no hope in development or improvement in society. What causes poverty? It is said that due to extreme external influences, the governments of poor nations and the people are powerless; hence, a few get wealthy and the majority struggles financially. A symptom of world poverty is world hunger. Interestingly enough, food aid from others can cause poverty and more hunger in long term since free or cheap food gets rid of local farmers or sellers and slants the market share of larger producers. In addition, countries that are corrupt can suffer from poverty. More than 25000 people were interviewed for BBC POLL on which was the biggest and the most serious problem that the world faced and the results were as following: 1 - extreme poverty (71%)2 - the environment or pollution (64%)3 - the rising cost of food and energy (63%)4 - the spread of human diseases (59%)5 - terrorism (59%)6 - human rights abuses (59%)7 - climate change (58%)8 - the state of the global economy (58%)9 - war or armed conflict (57%)10 - violation of workers' rights  (48%)In 10 countries, poverty was chosen as the most serious global issue currently. Although a rich country has a strong economy, if the majority of the population are struggling to survive, the country is in a big hazard. The improvement in standard of living and access to all the basic needs such as enough food, water, shelter, health and education, is the key to a proper and successful country with barely any poverty. 
Other issues like climate change cause bad consequences but it only worsens the pre-existing issues. These problems, like water shortages and spread of malaria, are issues that need to be addressed to the whole world whether or not climate change occurs. 

http://www.theguardian.com/society/poverty

http://www.thp.org/learn_more/issues/poverty?gclid=CIO3-Mq13LoCFWlT4godvTkA7w

http://www.poverty.com/

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats

http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate/poverty-not-global-warming-remains-biggest-challenge/

http://www.globalissues.org/article/4/poverty-around-the-world#WorldBanksPovertyEstimatesRevised

http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty

http://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2013/07/08/climate_change_isnt_worlds_biggest_problem_106585.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hFX8Y4c3W0WzTKKk7FpXNGLTGBfQ

http://www.globescan.com/news_archives/bbcWorldSpeaks-2010/