Extreme Poverty Quotes

“One additional unit of income can do a hundred times as much to the benefit the extreme poor as it can to benefit you or I [earning the typical US wage of $28,000 or ‎£18,000 per year]. [I]t's not often you have two options, one of which is a hundred times better than the other. Imagine a happy hour where you could either buy yourself a beet for $5 or buy someone else a beer for 5¢. If that were the case, we'd probably be pretty generous – next round's on me! But that's effectively the situation we're in all the time. It's like a 99% off sale, or buy one, get ninety-nine free. It might be the most amazing deal you'll see in your life.”
― William MacAskill, Doing Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference

“When most folks think about the problems of growing up in the hood, they think about what it must feel like to be poor, or hungry, or to have your lights cut off. The struggle nobody talk about is what it feel like to be invisible, or to know in your heart the nobody cares. Mama didn’t want to be famous, she wanted to be seen.”
― Patricia Williams, Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat

“At least ten times as many people died from preventable, poverty-related diseases on September 11, 2011, as died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on that black day. The terrorist attacks led to trillions of dollars being spent on the ‘war on terrorism’ and on security measures that have inconvenienced every air traveller since then. The deaths caused by poverty were ignored. So whereas very few people have died from terrorism since September 11, 2001, approximately 30,000 people died from poverty-related causes on September 12, 2001, and on every day between then and now, and will die tomorrow. Even when we consider larger events like the Asian tsunami of 2004, which killed approximately 230,000 people, or the 2010 earthquake in Haiti that killed up to 200,000, we are still talking about numbers that represent just one week’s toll for preventable, poverty-related deaths — and that happens fifty-two weeks in every year.”
― Peter Singer, Practical Ethics

“When we spend time with people who live in extreme poverty, and we listen to their stories, it creates dignity and connectedness - something they usually lack.”
― Chris Marlow, Doing Good Is Simple: Making a Difference Right Where You Are

“Together we can remind them there are no excuses to sit back and watch the cycle of extreme poverty continue.”
― Oscar Auliq-Ice

“One of my greatest fears, and what might be one of the greatest obstacles to ending or putting a massive dent in extreme poverty alleviation, is this: when everyday, normal people feel as if they can't help. Let me repeat: this is a tragedy.
In fact, I would say it is the ordinary people who will determine how much impact is done in the world. It's the ordinary folks who have a great responsibility. If individuals like you and me decide in our hearts to be deliberate and care for the poor, there is no doubt we can truly see the majority of extreme poverty vanish into thin air.”
― Chris Marlow, Doing Good Is Simple: Making a Difference Right Where You Are

“In this age of evidence based economy and precision economy, Artificial Intelligence is the most potent tool to eradicate extreme poverty from the world.”
― Amit Ray, Compassionate Artificial Superintelligence AI 5.0

“Extreme poverty isn’t just an African issue or an Asian issue or a South American issue. It is a global issue. Before flying overseas to help relieve poverty abroad, consider the poverty in your own backyard.

Every country on every continent has people impacted by poverty—whether it is relative or absolute. Bringing extreme poverty down to zero will take more trial and error, more methods, more innovation, and more communication. Most importantly, it will take more trust—the trust that people are aware of their problems and are creative enough to solve them when given the right resources. People need opportunities, connections, and education to learn more about life’s possibilities, not handouts, performative sympathy, and empty promises.”
― Danielle Hawa Tarigha, Uplift and Empower: A Guide To Understanding Extreme Poverty and Poverty Alleviation

“The country you live in impacts nearly every aspect of your life. From the factors I have observed, this impact can be broadly categorized into opportunities and trust. In Richland, individuals’ lives are replete with opportunity and there is little reason not to trust the institutions in their lives, yet not everything is as perfect as it seems on a mental, emotional, and cultural level. In Poorland, the daily fight for survival takes precedence over most other elements of life and trust levels are low. Even the ground a person lives on can be taken away at a moment’s notice with little opportunity or basis for defense.”
― Danielle Hawa Tarigha, Uplift and Empower: A Guide To Understanding Extreme Poverty and Poverty Alleviation

“Working closely with recipients and understanding the needs of others requires a level of trust, credibility, and closeness that community leaders are best positioned to develop.

Community leaders can serve as mentors, communicators, and friends who represent the values and priorities most important to the populations they support.

At this level of giving, customizing aid to the specific needs of individuals becomes a natural byproduct of the types of relationships formed.”
― Danielle Hawa Tarigha, Uplift and Empower: A Guide To Understanding Extreme Poverty and Poverty Alleviation

“Extreme poverty isn’t just an African issue or an Asian issue or a South American issue. It is a global issue. Before flying overseas to help relieve poverty abroad, consider the poverty in your own backyard.

Every country on every continent has people impacted by poverty—whether it is relative or absolute. Bringing extreme poverty down to zero will take more trial and error, more methods, more innovation, and more communication. Most importantly, it will take more trust—the trust that people are aware of their problems and are creative enough to solve them when given the right resources.”
― Danielle Hawa Tarigha, Uplift and Empower: A Guide to Understanding Extreme Poverty and Poverty Alleviation

“I view America as a very different country to what I did when I first arrived. Today I view it as a country of extreme poverty.”
― Steven Magee

“The USA is a country of extreme wealth and extreme poverty.”
― Steven Magee