Experiences of Child Poverty Essay Example for Free

Experiences of Child Poverty tryLon wear is the capital of the United Kingdom. The administrative structure in Greater London consists of 32 counties (boroughs) and the metropolis of London, extending over 1584 kilometers . The universe of London is around 7.5 m lightion however throughout Greater London well-nigh 13 million masses live. The GDP per capita for The UK is $36,500. London is the richest part of Britain and yet it has the highest rates of indigence in the UK. Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria. With an estimated population of 8.8 million inhabitants in the city, or rather 10. 7 million in the metropolitan ara, Lagos is the second largest city in Africa. The UN estimates that at its present growth rate, Lagos state leave be third largest mega city in the world by 2015 after Tokyo in Japan and Mumbai in India. Lagos is the primary(prenominal) city of the south-western part of Nigeria, Africa. The GDP per capita in Lagos is $3,649. Over 10,000 plenty arrive at Lagos all week in search of jobs and most end up in the citys mega slum do to the inadequacy of job opportunity.Children hold in s lottiness be those who experience deprivation of the material, spiritual and emotional resources unavoidable to survive, develop and thrive, leaving them unable to enjoy their lives, achieve their full potential or participate as full members of society. The easiest way to quantify baby bird poorness is by setting an absolute or congenator monetary threshold. If a family does non earn above that threshold, the children of that family will be considered to live be low gear the mendicancy line. Absolute poverty thresholds are fixed, whereas relative poverty thresholds are developed with reference to the actual income of the population and reflect changes in consumption. This is not always accurate, as it is only an average and on that point are people earning millions who affect that average GDP per capita. In scant(p) areas of London there a re many problems that formula children. The poor areas tend to be in places that lack jobs and job opportunities e.g. hackney carriage, Such poor areas outhouse unfeignedly affect the childs breeding referable to their living conditions.These children are living in relative poverty as they do puzzle access to clean irrigate, forage and shelter which is provided by the state, provided are considered poor to the rest of society as they cant afford luxuries and normally numerate upon benefits to get though life. These areas that lack job opportunities restrain high unemployment rates and so people have low incomes and often relate to crime as it is the culture of the area and people feel they do not get enough aver from the government and feel let down and ignored. These poor areas are prime spots for drug dealers and drug addicts. This is significantly bad as they have a low income and so cant afford the drugs and so they use the money which would have been spent on the c hildren E.g. quality food. Rather than spending the money on better quality food they spend it on the drugs they are dependent on as they are addicted and so the child looses out as they tend to be mall nourished.Being mall nourished can profit the chances of becoming ill which then in turn heart and soul the child is less homogeneously to spend time in school as they are off ill. This then affects their learning and they infra achieve which authority they have a less chance of ever getting a job and so they are pin down in the poverty cycle. It is then rely difficult for the children to break out of the poverty cycle due to many factors that affect them. Whereas Children living in the slums of Lagos in addition suffer from poverty, however the majority live in absolute poverty as they do not always have access to clean water, food and shelter, for example these children dont have access to clean water and so most of the water is contaminated with diseases like cholera. Allot of children catch cholera from drinking dirty water which makes them ill and as most of the children have no access to health care due to their parents being born they can remain ill for a long time and it can be fatal.Being ill means they cannot helper to provide for the family and the money being spent on their health cannot be spent on some other vital things like basic food stuffs. It is hard to get out of both cases of poverty however the children in the slums of Lagos are worse off and have a lower standard of living than the children living in Hackney. The majority of children living in poverty in Lagos are born to poor parents. Be display case of things like adult poverty, lack of education, unemployment, disabilities and discrimination significantly affect the causes of child poverty. Lack of parental frugal resources such as disposable income restricts childrens opportunities and therefore the children are unable to go to school and yield of these children are forced to work. The problem is that allot of these jobs where children are forced to work are very hazardous and can cause injuries, health problems and even death. E.g. the recycling of old oil drums that contain harmful toxins.The main reason why the children in Hackney are trapped in the poverty cycle is because of the parents/Careers as well. The cycle of poverty is when a family remains in poverty over many successive generations. Family issues can play a monstrous part in the reason for the child being submitted to a life of poverty. If the parents get in debt then this can be the cause of allot of stress, this can also cause the child to have stress which can affect their learning ability and health. Stress can also cause breakups between couples this can lead to single mothers who are left on their own to support the child and themselves, which can also lead to father stress. Most single parents are unemployed because they helve to look after the children and so they rely on bene fits. Teen pregnancies in both MEDCs and LEDCs are big causes of child poverty.Children resulting from unwanted pregnancies are more likely to live in poverty raising a child requires allot of resources, so each additional child increases demands on parental resources. Families raised by a single parent are slackly poorer than those raised by couples. This can be a big issue in LEDC countries such as Lagos. Many teens abandon their children as they simply do not have the resources available to support their child as they cannot claim benefits as they do not exist. Where as in MEDCs, teen moms are supported by the government and family. The problem in Lagos is that children generally suffer from absolute poverty however there is also relative poverty. With absolute poverty children generally do not have what they need. They are short of basic food, water, shelter, clothing and adequate or ample health care.Where as in Hackney people do not suffer from absolute poverty and so are b etter off, however they live in relative poverty that is poverty under relative terms is viewed as being what some people lack in relation to other people. In my opinion the worst experience of child poverty in Lagos would be the lack of whitened water which causes a significant mensuration of deaths and illnesses and affects the family as a whole as the money apply to pay for the childs healthcare comes from the money normally spent on other necessities like food or education. The government of Nigeria could provide communities with wells however it would cost a phenomenal amount of money , and the majority of the people dont live on legal grounds as they have just moved there and have not actually paid to live there and so the government would not be allowed to build wells as most of the people dont have permition to live there in the first place.The worst experiences for children living in Hackney would be the culture of the area and so children grow up with crime related expe riences, this then means that most of the children get brought up with crime and this can keep them in the poverty cycle. The government of Britain could increase prison sentences and increase policing in these areas. This policy would be expensive however it would increase the standards of living for these people and help them get out of relative poverty. Both cases of poverty affect the childs opportunities in life. This means they are limited jobs available to them or unemployment if there is a lack of job opportunities.There future generations will probably also live in poverty, whether absolute or relative. They will rarely experience if at all the luxuries and experiences we take for granted. Their only hope getting out of poverty is if the government adopts a poverty drop-off strategy paper (PRSP) and use schemes like the growth of the cities and urban development, employment opportunities and poverty reduction and housing schemes. Also the best way to reduce child poverty w ould be to reduce child labour and increase accessibility to education by building more schools and improving the quality of education. This is a key point that governments need to adopt in order to reduce child poverty and help break the poverty cycle.