EXTREME POVERTY REPORT
Poverty is a problem that has proven solutions.
Giving plays a crucial role in eliminating poverty.
CONTENTS
Letter from the
Executive Director
ii
CHAPTER 1
Extreme Poverty
2
CHAPTER 2
Why Give to Charity?
4
CHAPTER 3
Myths About Giving
8
Letter from the
Executive Director
The Life You Can Save is pleased to present the Extreme Poverty Report. This summary
compiles information that is available in many different places, but hopefully puts it all
together in a concise, graphic format that makes it easier to understand and decide to
take part in the fight against the devastating effects of extreme poverty.
We hope that the information enclosed, along with our website, encourages more and
more people to enhance the impact of their charitable donations by giving effectively and
even increasing the amount they are currently allocating for charity.
We understand that there are many great NGOs and places people want to give their
money to. Like most people, we are pulled in many different directions. “Associational
giving,” giving that is a result of family, kinship, and a sense of community, is a very
strong motivator. At The Life You Can Save, we hope you will consider “optimal” giving.
This type of giving considers first and foremost how to relieve the most suffering per
dollar, despite the fact that the recipient may live on a different continent, speak another
language, or be of a different race or ethnic group. You’ll be surprised when you see just
how impactful effective philanthropy can be.
Thanks for reading through this Extreme Poverty Report and visiting The Life You Can
Save’s website. In addition to donating to our recommended charities, we hope you will
consider taking The Life You Can Save’s pledge to fight global poverty, joining the over
17,000 people who have already done so.
Charlie Bresler, Ph.D.
Executive Director, The Life You Can Save
CHAPTER 1
EXTREME POVERTY
If you had the chance to save the life of a child,
would you do it?
Most of us would do so without giving it a second thought. If saving
a drowning child meant simply wading into a shallow pond to pull
the child out, we would not hesitate to take this action. The fact that
we would get wet or ruin a good suit would not outweigh the act of
saving a child’s life.
Do you realize each of us has the opportunity to save the life of a
human being right now? In fact, we are presented with thousands
of such opportunities every single day. UNICEF estimates that
over 18,000 children under the age of five die every day from
1
preventable causes associated with extreme poverty. That breaks
down to over 750 children per hour, or 12 children per minute.
These causes of death include lack of access to clean drinking water,
insufficient nutrition, inadequate health care services, malaria,
dysentery, worms, and neonatal infection. These diseases and
health problems are not commonly found in the developed world
because we have access to resources that prevent or cure them.
Extreme poverty is a condition characterized by
severe deprivation of basic human needs such as
food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health,
shelter, and education. Extreme poverty depends
not only on income, but also on access to services.
Yet, despite the fact that developed nations have an abundance of
resources that sustain life, over a billion people continue to live and
die in poverty, struggling daily with its consequences.
2
Extreme Poverty
Today
of 7 billion people on Earth:
2.4 billion people live on less than $2 (USD) a day 1
1.2 billion people live on less than $1.25 per day 1
More than 1 billion people lack access to clean water 2
Close to 2 billion people lack access to sanitation facilities 2
842 million people go to bed hungry 3
4
116 million children are not enrolled in any formal education
Nearly 800 million adults cannot read or write
Q:
A:
5
What causes extreme poverty?
Extreme poverty has multiple causes, including harsh climate, lack of
fertile land, war and political strife, government corruption, disease,
and famine. Many of these causes are in turn exacerbated by poverty
and contribute to a cycle of suffering that prevents the world’s neediest
people from accessing the most basic health services, resources and
information that they need to survive.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
You can save a life.
Here in the developed world, we’re all in the position to make a difference
in the life of someone desperately in need. It’s up to you to decide how
much you are willing to contribute to alleviate the suffering of others.
3
Extreme Poverty
CHAPTER 2
Why Give to Charity?
Poverty can be solved.
Effective interventions can break the cycle of poverty for the world’s
neediest people. According to progress reports on the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals, fewer people today are
living in extreme poverty than just a few decades ago:
The percentage of people living on under $1.25 a day
fell by half during the 20 years between 1990 and
2010. In developing regions, the percentage of people
living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 47 percent in
1
1990 to 22 percent in 2010
700 million fewer people lived in extreme poverty in
2010 than in1990 – despite the fact that the Earth’s
overall population increased by 1.6 billion during the
1
same period
The UN Millennium target goal of halving the number
of people who suffer from hunger is projected to be
1
met by 2015
Source:http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/12/11/3036671/2013-certainly-year-human-history/
4
Why Give to Charity?
We have the financial resources to combat poverty.
While 1.2 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day, those of us living in
the developed world have significant collective resources at our disposal.
Focusing solely on the U.S., it would take just $3 per American citizen to
come up with a billion dollars of aid money.
How much money per year would it take to meet the most basic health and
nutritional requirements of the world’s neediest people?
HOW MUCH DO WE NEED TO FIGHT POVERTY?
Treat all non-resistant
cases of Tuberculosis
$ 3B
Vaccines for all infants
in poor countries
$ 4B
Double tropical
agriculture research &
development spending
$ 5B
0
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6
www.gatesnotes.com/Development/G20-Report-Innovation-with-Impact
While these totals may seem like significant amounts of money, these are small
amounts relative to what the developed world spends on luxuries each year.
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Why Give to Charity?
5
Even small donations have an impact.
While poverty is indeed extreme and widespread, it is easy to forget just
how many people there are in the developed world, and how powerful our
pocket change can become when pooled together.
You know the old adage, “For the price of a cup of coffee a day...” It’s true!
Small donations have the potential to drastically improve an individual’s
quality of life.
$3
$ 25
$ 450
can buy one insecticide-treated bed net, which lasts
about 4 years and protects against malaria borne by
mosquitos.
can buy one cataract surgery, which restores eyesight
to those in the developing world. Seva Foundation
estimates that currently 18 million people live with
preventable blindness due to cataracts.
can pay for a fistula surgery, which repairs obstetric
injuries due to complications sustained during childbirth. That’s cheaper than the cost of a single night’s
stay in a Western hospital.
Giving makes us happier people.
Research has shown: spending money on ourselves does not significantly
increase our sense of happiness or well-being. A Harvard Business School
study suggests that giving to others is directly correlated with an increased
1
sense of happiness. The Harvard researchers write that giving has a strong
tendency to make people happy, and that happy people in turn tend to
give more: “Happier people give more and giving makes people happier,
such that happiness and giving may operate in a positive feedback loop.”
Other studies have shown that people experience pleasure when they see
money go to charity—even if this money isn’t their own. People experience
2
the most pleasure, however, when they give directly to charity themselves.
6
Why Give to Charity?
Giving works.
The fact that extreme poverty still exists causes many people to claim
that development aid isn’t working. In fact, effective aid efforts have been
repeatedly proven to reduce death rates and suffering in developing
countries. Here are only a few examples:
Between 1990 and 2010, global extreme poverty rates were halved
1
Globally, the number of deaths of children under 5 years of age fell
1
from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012
Because of aid and debt relief, Uganda and Tanzania have been able
to abolish school fees and achieve universal primary education2
Over 4 million people suffering from HIV/AIDS now have access to
life-saving antiretroviral treatment, a more than ten-fold increase in
the past 9 years 3
Non-governmental organizations are increasingly relying on independent
evaluations to bolster their accountability and to adjust their operations.
Organizations like The Life You Can Save, Giving What We Can, and
GiveWell curate annually-revised lists of recommended charities with
demonstrated efficiency and effectiveness.
7
Why Give to Charity?
CHAPTER 3
MYTHS ABOUT GIVING
MYTH #1 Poverty isn’t the problem;
it’s the symptom.
“Giving to charity is a band-aid solution rather than a long-term solution.
Instead, we should work to fix structural issues that lead to poverty.”
Extreme poverty is a complicated issue, caused by a nexus of related
problems: political instability, poor infrastructure, lack of education,
lack of access to healthcare, famine, and maldistribution of income and
wealth, to name a few. While aid alone hasn’t eliminated global poverty, it
has done a lot in the developing world to drastically decrease the number
of people living in extreme poverty and to improve the basic standard of
living for many people suffering from preventable illnesses and diseases.
Between 1930 and 2010, worldwide deaths from mosquito-born malaria decreased from 3.8 million to 0.7
1
million—a reduction of 80 percent.
Since 1980, smallpox has been eradicated due to a
World Health Initiative launched in 1959. Prior to its
eradication, smallpox killed 50% of those who fell ill
1
to the disease.
Since its inception in 1978, Seva Foundation has
helped fund cataract surgeries to restore eyesight to
3.5 million people living in the developed world.2
Better health, in turn, enables people living in poverty to contribute more
significantly to their own success: they can go to work, they can go to
school, they can contribute to their household income, and they don’t
take someone else’s time and capacity to work by requiring care.
Of course, giving to charity isn’t the only thing we can do. We can also
work toward solutions on a political level. Complex issues like poverty
need to be addressed on many levels and in various ways. You can help
address poverty by giving to independently evaluated, proven effective
charities to alleviate the confluence of the factors which perpetuate the
cycle of poverty.
8
Myths About Giving
MYTH #2 Poverty relief is the responsibility of
governments.
“A portion of our tax money already goes to foreign aid. We shouldn’t have
to give more as individuals in addition to what we already pay in taxes.”
When asked whether the United States allocates more, less, or about the
same percentage to foreign aid as other developed nations, only 1 out of
20 Americans guessed correctly. Most Americans are surprised to discover
that the United States is near the bottom of the list of developed countries
in terms of the percentage of national income that is allocated to foreign
aid. In 2012, the United States ranked behind Portugal and Iceland. In that
year, the United States gave only 19 cents of every $100 of earnings—a
1
total of .19% to foreign aid.
Americans also dramatically overestimate the portion of government
spending that’s dedicated to foreign aid. On average, Americans believe
almost a third of their government’s expenditures go toward foreign aid,
when in reality only 0.7% of the annual budget is allocated to International
1
Development and Humanitarian Assistance.
Governments aren’t giving what society expects them to give. Even with
tax payers’ consent, goverments won’t give enough aid to end extreme
poverty.
GOVERNMENT AID IN PERCENTAGE OF GROSS NATIONAL INCOME (2012)
1
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www.oecd.org/dac/stats/aidtopoorcountriesslipsfurtherasgovernmentstightenbudgets.htm
9
Myths About Giving
MYTH #3 Giving aid makes developing countries
dependent upon foreign resources and
funding.
“Choosing to give will mean that I will contribute to governments and economies
that will never be self-sufficient. Withholding aid now means that developing
countries will learn to build stable infrastructures for themselves in the future.”
It is true that giving out food handouts directly to people living in extreme poverty
has the potential to disrupt local economies (e.g. by making it difficult for local
farmers to competitively price their crops). Except in the case of natural disasters,
illness, disease and other emergencies, handouts are not a sustainable way to
combat the problems associated with extreme poverty.
However, many types of intervention can successfully reinvigorate and strengthen
local economies by providing long-term healthcare, agricultural, and educational
solutions for people living in communities in developing nations.
For example, organizations such as the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative (SCI) and
Deworm the World work directly with governments in sub-Saharan Africa to create
and strengthen deworming programs that improve children’s health and education
outcomes. Both SCI and Deworm the World seek to secure funds for governmentimplemented programs. By setting up effective healthcare systems, organizations
like these pave the way for pilot programs to evolve into long-term elements of
national healthcare systems. This leads to an eventual decreased dependence on
foreign aid.
In many cases direct handouts have proven to be an effective and empowering
solution:
In Kenya, insecticide-treated mosquito nets provide highly effective
malaria prevention, yet if the nets are sold at a low price of $1 rather than
distributed for free, a full 35% percent of people decide to go without.
Households that received a free net are more likely to buy another later on.
While poor households are often already too burdened to take the risk of
another expendiure to prevent malaria, the demonstrated effectiveness of
1
the free net justifies future expenditures.
10
Myths About Giving
MYTH #4 Giving leads to overpopulation.
“Therefore, the problems associated with extreme poverty are only
exacerbated by aid.”
The claim that life-saving interventions always lead to unsustainable
population growth is verifiably false. Death rates have very little to do with
declines in populations. On the contrary, having a lower birth rate is the
most important factor that contributes to viable and stable populations.
The single best predictor of a woman’s fertility is her educational level.
Increasing access to education, and access to the basic material needs
that help girls in the developing world enroll and stay enrolled in school is
the best form of population planning.
Greater access to safe contraception gives women more control over their
fertility, and lower infant mortality rates encourage families to have fewer
children. Increased access to economic and educational opportunities
also means that parents do not need to have as many children, since they
will not need their children to work to supplement family income.
http://youtu.be/BkSO9pOVpRM
11
Myths About Giving
MYTH #5 Donations don’t help the people who
need the most aid.
“If I give, my money will end up paying for the nonprofit’s organizational marketing or
operational costs. In the worst case, my donation will end up contributing to corruption
or bribery in countries that lack stable governments and effective relief distribution
programs. I don’t have the time to do the research to find out which charities are
effective and which are frauds.”
There are almost a million nonprofits that you can choose to give to in the
US alone, and the process of selecting which organization to support can feel
like a daunting task. Fortunately, several independent organizations conduct
extensive research in order to determine which charities will most effectively
use your money to help the world’s neediest people.
Through his contacts with GiveWell, Giving What We Can, Oxfam, and others,
Peter Singer has developed the following list of the most effective charities:
12
Myths About Giving
Resources
Still not sure whether to donate? Consult the most recent
statistics: Why Donate?
Find the world’s most effective charities: Where to Donate
Keep in touch with our Newsletter and our weekly Blogs
Community
Reading
PHOTO CREDITS AND CAPTIONS
SOURCES AND CITATIONS
Front cover
Page 2
© Karl Fluch
“Not Alone” https://www.flickr.com/photos/karlhans
1 Unicef. 10 July 2014. www.unicef.org/mdg/childmortality.html
Table of Contents
1“Poverty Overview”. worldbank.org. The World Bank Group, 2014.
10 July 2014. www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/overview
© Meet The Boss TV
Charles Bresler, during an executive interview
© Possible 2013
A family in Nepal
© Michelle Siu/World Vision
© Possible 2014
A local mother with child who received care through Possible
Page 3
2 “Access to Safe Water”. worldbank.org. The World Bank Group,
2014. 10 July 2014. www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/modules/environm/water/print.html
3 “The State of Food Insecurity in the World”. FAO Corporate
Document Repository. Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, 2012. Web. 10, July 2014. www.fao.org/docrep/
Page 1
4 Hillman, A. L. and Jenker, E., 2004 “Educating Children in Poor
Countries”. imf.org. International Monetary Fund, 2004. Web.
10 July 2014. www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues/issues33/
Page 2
5 “The Economic and Social Cost of Illiteracy”. Interim Report from
the World Literacy Foundation. World Literacy Foundation. Web.
10 July 2014. www.worldliteracyfoundation.org/interim-report.html
© Possible 2014
A local mother with child waiting outside of a Possible clinic
© Possible 2013
Boy waiting at a Possible-supported pharmacy with brother.
Page 4
© Possible 2013
Young girl in Nepal, after receivig medical care through Possible
Page 5
© Possible 2013
Local women in Nepal, near Possible clinic
Page 6
© Nicholas Axelrod/UNICEF Cambodia
Page 7
© Possible 2013
Girl in Nepal, before and after surgery received through Possiible
Page 8
© Karl Fluch
“Not Alone” https://www.flickr.com/photos/karlhans
Page 9
Page 4
1 “Millennium Development Goals and Beyond 2015”. United Nations.
Web. 10 July 2014. www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml
Page 6
1 Anik, Aknin, Norton, Dunn, 2009. “Feeling Good about Giving”.
Harvard Business School Working Paper 10-012. Web. 10 July
2014. www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/10-012.pdf
2 Harbaugh, William T. 2007. “Neural Responses to Taxation and Voluntary Giving Reveal Motives for Charitable Donations.” Science 316:
1622-1625.
Page 7
1 “Millennium Development Goals and Beyond 2015”. United Nations.
Web. 10 July 2014. www.un.org/millenniumgoals/poverty.shtml
2 “Debt and Aid”. Oxfam International, 2014. Web. 10 June 2014.
www.oxfam.org/campaigns/health-education/debt-and-aid
3 “Getting to Zero: HIV in Eastern & Southern Africa”. Unicef, 2013
Web. 10 July 2014. www.unicef.org/esaro/Getting-to-Zero-2013.pdf
Page 8
© Michelle Siu/World Vision
1 “Myths About Aid”. Giving What We Can 2013. Web. 10 July
2014. www.givingwhatwecan.org/get-involved/myths-about-aid
Page 10
2 Seva Foundation, 2013. Web. 10 July 2014. http://www.seva.
org/site/PageServer?pagename=programs/prevent_blindness
© Possible 2014
A local mother with child who received care through Possible
Page 9
1 Lentfer, J. “7 things you may not know about US foreign assistance”.
Oxfam America,1 April 2014. politicsofpoverty.oxfamamerica.org
Page 10
1“What Matters in Malaria Prevention in Kenya”. Innovations for Poverty Action. Web. 10 July 2014. www.poverty-action.org/project/0159
“The more we can learn about how
to give most effectively,
and act upon that learning,
the greater our collective impact
on extreme poverty will be.
- Charles Bresler
The Life You Can Save Executive Director
Published by The Life You Can Save
10540 NE Morning Lane
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, USA
[email protected]
www.thelifeyoucansave.org
© The Life You Can Save
July 2014
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