Humanity: November 2009

Introduction

The worst poverty in many places is the lack of healthcare. One can live in the illusion that most people in Western nations have enough to eat, warm clothes, and a place to sleep. But healthcare costs often lead people (especially in the USA) to choose between food, rent, warm clothes, medications, and other healthcare costs. The dental health of many children in the USA is appalling. Most bankruptcies in the USA are due to healthcare costs. One can determine levels of poverty by looking at different percentages of median income, absolute income, etc., but that is often not nearly as important as the lack of healthcare for many people, especially in the USA. Most other industrialized or Western (long democratic traditions) nations have universal healthcare. The USA is a very backward nation. The USA prefers to waste an astronomical amount of money on its prisons due to its insane drug war.
Universal healthcare is how the drug war is being rolled back in Europe. Much of Europe has a harm reduction attitude to drugs. Harm reduction only works well if there is universal healthcare:
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/universal.htm

Universal healthcare costs less than U.S. healthcare, and gets better national health indicator results. Here is a great thread on universal healthcare in Canada. The first post is propaganda from a Canadian corporatist think tank. The replies are from Canadians mostly. They rip the propaganda to shreds. Forum thread:
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/viewtopic.php?topic=51285&forum=3

Most Greens understand all this much better than most Libertarians. When Libertarians liberate themselves from ideology, they will be a powerful force for drug law reform and healthcare cost savings in the USA. For more on this see:
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/greens.htm#ha

---------------------------------------------

Poverty rates worldwide. Charts

Poverty Rates. By nation. Timelines.
The stats in the chart below are from the Luxembourg Income Study.

Poverty_rate._Those_below_50%_of_median_income.
_______________________________________________
As_a_percent_of_each_age_group.________________
_______________________________________________
Nation________Year____________Children__Elderly
____________________All_ages___________________
_______________________________________________
Australia_____1981______11.3_____13.8______24.0
Australia_____1985______11.9_____14.0______24.3
Australia_____1989______12.2_____15.0______23.8
Australia_____1994______14.3_____15.8______29.4
Austria_______1987_______6.7______4.8______18.5
Austria_______1994_______8.7______9.7______11.9
Austria_______1995______10.6_____15.0______10.3
Austria_______1997_______8.0_____10.2______10.5
Belgium_______1985_______4.5______4.0______10.9
Belgium_______1988_______4.6______3.8_______9.7
Belgium_______1992_______5.2______4.6______12.1
Belgium_______1997_______8.0______7.7______11.7
Canada________1971______16.1_____16.6______36.9
Canada________1975______13.9_____14.4______34.7
Canada________1981______12.4_____14.8______22.1
Canada________1987______11.4_____14.9______10.8
Canada________1991______11.0_____15.3_______5.8
Canada________1994______11.3_____15.4_______4.9
Canada________1997______11.9_____15.7_______5.4
Canada________1998______12.8_____16.3_______7.8
Canada________2000______11.4_____14.9_______5.9
Czech_Rep.____1992_______2.3______2.2_______5.0
Czech_Rep.____1996_______4.9______6.6_______7.4
Denmark_______1987______10.1______4.7______31.5
Denmark_______1992_______7.2______5.0______11.1
Denmark_______1995_________-________-_________-
Denmark_______1997_________-________-_________-
Estonia_______2000______12.4_____13.6______11.0
Finland_______1987_______5.4______2.8______11.9
Finland_______1991_______5.7______2.3______13.9
Finland_______1995_______4.2______2.0_______5.6
Finland_______2000_______5.4______2.8_______8.5
France________1979_______8.2______7.2______10.3
France________1981_______7.3______6.9______(na)
France_(a)____1984_______7.4______7.5_______4.8
France_(b)____1984______11.5______9.8______19.3
France________1989_______8.9______8.3______14.7
France________1994_______8.0______7.9_______9.8
Germany_______1973_______6.7______4.4______17.8
Germany_______1978_______6.5______3.4______17.6
Germany_______1981_______5.3______2.8______14.4
Germany_______1983_______5.8______4.7______14.3
Germany_______1984_______7.9______8.5______14.0
Germany_______1989_______5.8______4.1______11.3
Germany_______1994_______8.2______9.5_______9.7
Germany_______2000_______8.3______9.0______10.1
Hungary_______1991_______8.2______6.9______14.0
Hungary_______1994______10.1_____11.4_______8.8
Hungary_______1999_______6.7______8.8_______3.7
Ireland_______1987______11.1_____13.8______14.4
Ireland_______1994______11.9_____14.6______17.3
Ireland_______1995______12.9_____15.7______17.6
Ireland_______1996______12.3_____14.4______24.3
Ireland_______2000______16.5_____17.2______35.8
Israel________1979______10.9_____10.3______29.7
Israel________1986______11.7_____12.7______23.3
Israel________1992______10.2_____11.6______17.2
Israel________1997______13.5_____13.3______26.4
Israel________2001______15.6_____18.0______21.6
Italy_________1986______10.4_____11.4______13.1
Italy_________1987______11.2_____13.7______12.6
Italy_________1989_______9.7_____11.3______15.0
Italy_________1991______10.4_____14.0______15.7
Italy_________1993______14.0_____19.9______13.8
Italy_________1995______14.1_____19.0______14.3
Italy_________1998______14.1_____18.4______15.5
Italy_________2000______12.7_____16.6______13.7
Luxembourg____1985_______5.3______5.2______12.7
Luxembourg____1991_______4.7______5.4______11.8
Luxembourg____1994_______3.9______4.5_______6.7
Luxembourg____1997_______6.2_____10.1_______5.5
Luxembourg____2000_______6.0______9.1_______3.7
Mexico________1984______20.8_____23.5______27.3
Mexico________1989______21.1_____24.7______27.9
Mexico________1992______20.6_____24.6______27.1
Mexico________1994______21.8_____26.2______31.0
Mexico________1996______20.2_____25.0______27.4
Mexico________1998______21.9_____27.6______29.4
Mexico________2000______21.5_____26.9______28.3
Mexico________2002______20.2_____24.8______27.9
Netherlands___1983_______3.9______2.7______23.7
Netherlands___1987_______4.7______5.2_______0.3
Netherlands___1991_______6.3______8.1_______3.2
Netherlands___1994_______7.2______7.9_______5.3
Netherlands___1999_______7.3______9.8_______2.4
Norway________1979_______4.9______4.8_______6.3
Norway________1986_______7.2______4.3______21.7
Norway________1991_______6.4______5.2______14.0
Norway________1995_______6.9______3.9______14.5
Norway________2000_______6.4______3.4______11.9
Poland________1986_______9.7_____11.7______17.0
Poland________1992_______7.7______8.4______12.5
Poland________1995______11.6_____15.4_______8.4
Poland________1999_______8.6_____12.7_______3.6
Taiwan________1981_______5.5______6.7______13.3
Taiwan________1986_______5.2______5.9______13.0
Taiwan________1991_______6.5______6.9______18.4
Taiwan________1995_______6.7______6.2______21.7
Taiwan________1997_______9.1______9.2______24.7
Taiwan________2000_______9.1______8.0______25.7
Romania_______1995_______8.5_____10.8______12.8
Romania_______1997_______8.1_____10.0______10.4
Russia________1992______19.2_____17.6______38.3
Russia________1995______20.1_____23.7______18.4
Russia________2000______18.8_____22.2______13.8
Slovak_Rep.___1992_______2.1______2.0_______2.2
Slovak_Rep.___1996_______7.0_____(na)______(na)
Slovenia______1997_______9.5______9.4______15.7
Slovenia______1999_______8.2______6.9______17.9
Spain_________1980______12.2_____12.7______18.8
Spain_________1990______10.1_____12.2______11.3
Sweden________1975_______6.5______2.4______13.9
Sweden________1981_______5.3_____4.8________2.9
Sweden________1987_______7.5_____3.5________7.2
Sweden________1992_______6.7_____3.0________6.4
Sweden________1995_______6.6_____2.6________2.7
Sweden________2000_______6.5_____4.2________7.7
Switzerland___1982_______7.6_____4.3_______19.3
Switzerland___1992_______9.3_____10.0_______8.4
U.K.__________1969_______5.5_____6.0_______15.3
U.K.__________1974_______9.1_____8.0_______29.7
U.K.__________1979_______9.2_____9.0_______21.6
U.K.__________1986_______9.1_____12.5_______7.0
U.K.__________1991______14.6_____18.5______23.9
U.K.__________1994______10.8_____13.9______15.1
U.K.__________1995______13.4_____19.8______13.7
U.K.__________1999______12.5_____15.4______20.9
U.S.__________1974______15.9_____19.3______27.5
U.S.__________1979______15.8_____20.4______27.3
U.S.__________1986______17.8_____25.1______23.5
U.S.__________1991______17.5_____24.3______20.8
U.S.__________1994______17.8_____24.5______20.6
U.S.__________1997______16.9_____22.5______20.7
U.S.__________2000______17.0_____21.9______24.7

First link below is for the Luxembourg Income Study. It has
references, methods, explanations, and much more info:

http://www.lisproject.org/keyfigures/povertytable.htm and
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html U.S. Census Bureau.
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/y/poverty.htm mirror page.
http://corporatism.tripod.com/poverty.htm mirror page.

Child Poverty Rates.
In the USA the "War on Drugs" has replaced the 1960's "War on
Poverty." Prisons, guards, courts, and police have replaced
schools, food, healthcare, and shelter. And the USA does not have
the universal healthcare that nearly all other Western (long
democratic traditions) nations have. The USA stats in the chart
below are from the Luxembourg Income Study (1974 to 2000) and the
U.S. Census Bureau (1960 to 1969). They use slightly different
calculation methods.

Child_Poverty_Rate._______________________________________________
Percent_of_children_in_poverty.___________________________________
By_year.__________________________________________________________
______________2000__1997__1994__1991__1986__1979__1974__1969__1960
______________________________________________________
USA.__________21.9__22.5__24.5__24.3__25.1__20.4__19.3__13.8____26
__________________________________________________________________

First link below is for the Luxembourg Income Study. It has
references, methods, explanations, and much more info:

"[1998] is the first time that the [U.S.] child poverty rate has been below 20 percent since 1980." -U.S. Census Bureau. Ronald (6) Wilson (6) Reagan (6) was elected President in 1980. Reaganomics, tax cuts for the rich, the vastly expanded Drug War and military, and huge increasing interest payments on the national debt, have all contributed to stealing wealth from the poor and lower-middle class. Note the relatively low 1969 rate. President Johnson's War on Poverty had managed to lower the poverty rate that far before his and Nixon's Vietnam War reversed the trend. From an excellent 2001 report with maps and charts (the maxwell.syr.edu links below) yet to be incorporated into the table above: "New fully comparable figures on child poverty across the industrialized world and the 50 United States show a huge disparity from country to country and state to state." There is also detailed, worldwide adult and child poverty info at the UNICEF Innocenti Library at the unicef links below. There is the new poverty measure for industrialized countries, the Human Poverty Index (HPI-2), from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) links below. The Eurostat links below have excellent charts for OECD nations. There are other very useful links below from other sources. There is a useful Google.com search shortcut. First link below is from the Luxembourg Income Study:
http://www.lisproject.org/keyfigures/povertytable.htm Best poverty rate timeline. Many nations.
http://www.unicef.org/pon96/indust4.htm and
http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/histpov/hstpov24.html and
http://lilt.ilstu.edu/gmklass/COW/archive/2001/nov2101pov.htm and
http://www.census.gov/income/histpov/hstpov2.lst and
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty.html and
http://www.commondreams.org/views/071200-104.htm and
http://www.unicef-icdc.org/publications/pdf/repcard1e.pdf and
http://www.npc.umich.edu/poverty and
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/news/releases/child_poverty_map.html and
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/news/releases/child_poverty.htm and
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/cprb2txt.html and
http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/dept/nccp/images/cp2tab1.gif and
http://www.unicef-icdc.it/aboutIRC/IRClibrary.html and
http://www.unicef-icdc.it/cgi-bin/unicef/series_down.sql?SeriesId=16 and
http://www.undp.org/hdro/ihpprof.htm and
http://www.unicef.org/pon96/indust4.htm and
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/img/incpov98/chart7.gif and
http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/income98/prs99asc.html and
http://www.google.com/search?q=poverty+rates+industrialized+nations

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Friday, November 13, 2009

Poverty rates worldwide

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