what is the number one cause of poverty in the third world?

hi, mam all of the above! illiteracy means lack of education so it connects to unemployment. corruption,,hey here in our country were #1 in asia,,what a shame! but if we try to change our ways we will fight to do those kind of humiliation, and as well we will be one of the most inspiring country in asia..population is the major problem also here in our country,,

Well, the choices that you've posted are also causes. The root cause is of course (in my opinion) lack of self discipline and moral decency. If you're going to analyze a problem you have to break it down into simplier components. If you sum it all up poverty can be caused by all these factors.

There is only one root cause of poverty...population. Imagine a family with only one child. The father works odd construction jobs. The mother is just taking in laundry from the neighbors. They feed well from what the parents earn although the father gets only Php300 and the mother earns Php200. The daily earnings hardly increase with the passage of years. Yet the parents are able to see their son through school until he earns a college degree. This is a true story about a family who used to live in a slum area near the apartment we rented while we were still in Manila. Their son is a Certified Public Accountant employed in a reputable bank when we left for Davao. They have moved out of the squatter's area already. Now, let's take a look at the situation of an elementary teacher. Her basic pay is well above Php10,000 a month plus allowances. It is really sizeable. She has 3 to 5 kids. Yet, she cannot send all her children through school when she has one in college. The rest of the kids will have either to stop or attend a government run school, a public school which none of the kids desire. Which one then is, in truth and in fact, the family which had a better life? Why can't we relate this scenario on a nationwide scale? It's really very easy to see. The more the population, the more mouths and bodies the government will have to take care of. And plenty of them are undesirables. Scrap excess population out and we get rid of illiteracy, unemployment, and decrease graft and corrupt practices dramatically.

i think its corruption coz if it's solved rest of the problems will be solved automatically.It's not that corruption was never there before but the boundaries it has croosed have to be checked

I choose unemployment. One can be illiterate but if he is working he can still support his family. Unempployment means you have no work which means you do not have an income. So how can you feed your family if you have no income? No income means no money. When there is no money, you have to get money by borrowing, stealing, robbing, begging etc. When you are caught or could not pay back the money you borrowed you put yourself into trouble. You could end up in jail. Your family become even poorer. This is how poverty happen in the third world.

for me corruption is the number one cause of poverty, it's like a chain reaction, because of the greediness of politicians, many people suffer like they can't afford to go to school and because they are illiterate, they can't find good jobs, and because they don't have jobs, of course they are unemployed, they are bored and can't do anything resulting mating as a favorite pasttime so there would be an overpopulation.

The cause is Corruption. Corruption shows it self in the sealing of money for investment and development. It is also the prevention of knowledge and information from getting to the people. The receint disaster in Mirima. The people in charge wanted to receive the aid but did not want the workers to come in. One of the reasons was to prevent the people from knowing what happened. Supplies were relabled to say the local government was the supplier. If you can keep your people ingorant they they only know what you want them to know. it makes them easier to control.

If my guess is right, you're a Filipino. My assumption is based merely on your surname and facial features in the photo you used here but if I'm incorrect, please don't get offended. Regarding the topic of your discussion, poverty is an eye sore particularly in the third world countries. I think I have to go with corruption. And I feel that I must say, I'm irritated by the acts of corruption done by some people in the government, particularly here in the Philippines. In fairness, some of them aren't as corrupt before as they are now. Sometimes, people react only to situations being given to them on a daily basis. What I mean is, some are not really corrupt but because we are given by God the freedom of choice, it is in our own hands whether to do what is right even if it will mean lower income or no food in our plates at all or be dictated by the majority who go with the flow of doing what is suppressing to the mass or the whole population. In all of this, I firmly believe that God is just watching over us and He isn't taking things for granted. I also believe in the law of karma, "what you give is what you'll reap in return." It may not be in an instant, but as it is said in the Holy Scriptures, 'there's a time for everything.' Anyway, God bless you in all your endeavors in life and keep doing good. Regards.

I am sorry that you missed out one choice: 5. None of the above or 5. All of the above. Kidding aside, I think the answer lies not in the four you enumerated but in one single factor, Apathy. When people don't care enough, there will be poverty. When those that are poor don't care enough to lift themselves by their bootstraps the way that computers do all the time, when rich people don't care enough that their luxurious living kills a baby somewhere because of poverty, hunger and disease, when intelligent people don't care enough to use their brilliant minds to solve a simple problem: poverty, when governments don't care enough for anything else but to line their own pockets and maintain their own tenuous grip on power. The list goes on an on. The problem of poverty is spiritual. People are spiritually impoverished and that is the reason they are poor.

corruption is number one because the government spent the money for the poor for personal interests of officials.

corruption....because the taxes goes to the pockets of some government officials, and so it causes poverty since there are no projects for the poor people.....without corruption, then the country will be a better place....but it's really hard to fight corruption, since people are greedy to have more money to their pockets...

Lack of Social Resposibility and Accountability. I attended a Research Conference yesterday and the topic was about Corporate Social Responsibility. We often equate that to big corporations. In fact, in our own little ways, we have our social responsibilities being neglected. Sad, we imbibed a culture of finger pointing and fault-finding. Instead of talking about ME, we should start considering WE.

Maybe corruption is one of the main cause of poverty. Corruption is like an illness that continue destroying the lives of many Filipinos here in the philippines. I feel so sorry on what is happening in our country.

Unemployment... There are many college graduates who are still seeking for job...And most of these people who are unemployed contribute to the poverty rate...

CORRUPTION is the main cause of poverty in the third world. If corruption can be stopped or reduced within 5% then other sector such as illiteracy, unemployment, population boom would reduce in general way. None is obeying order of corrupt official and political government so everywhere in corrupt administration there are a big black hole which grasp the bread and butter of mass people. Some people in corrupt country become millionare or billionare quickly grasping fate of trimining millions poors of thier country.

Corruption is the no.1 cause of poverty.With corruption services to the people are not rendered.When services are not rendered like housing,basic medical services,low cost for schools,informational campaign for what is happening in the country then its people tend to believe in what the government is saying.High prices will welcome the people.High prices will result in unemployment because the middle class cannot cope with the high cost of maintaining his business,then he will close his small business as a result.The big companies will fill the gap that the middle class has withdrawn. Naturally there is a monopolistic tendency for this big corporations to manipulate the market,more hardships.There is nothing left for the poor except one,making babies so the population boom.Meantime the mainstream media is boosting for this growth,the peso gaining in the stock market and so onand so forth.Haaaay never ending lies!

all the choices are interrelated. CORRUPTION, which for me is the major cause, leads further to hunger and poverty because the government fails to deliver properly the basic needs of the people. Programs such as food production, employment, education, reproductive health are not addresed seriously. Big budgets for these programs are not spent wisely. Mostly the money goes to the pockets of the higher ups. So what do you expect then?...scarcity of food, higher rates of unemployed, rise in illiteracy, and population explosion.

I think its corruption...because money that's intended for the people go to the pocket of the people who runs the government...

I think it is a mixture of all these things but for the discussions sake i will say illiteracy. I think you need education to build skilled workforce to then earn money and employ others, i think this would help slow corruption and population numbers might be low enough to cope at that stage. I also think it would be better for the population numbers if the contrseptives that we (so unkindly donate) to these countries were within their use by date!