Poverty Today

Poverty is an issue that no country, no matter its development level, has escaped. The global problem of poverty is in dire need of solutions and is demanding the attention of those who have the privilege to help. Divergence has become a more important topic of attention as the world divides even more strongly into the haves and have-nots, the wealthy and the poor. As a member of a developed country with access to incredible education opportunities and other resources, I consider myself one of the privileged who has the responsibility of helping out those in less fortunate situations. Even in a developed country like the United States, poverty is a very real problem with few realistic solutions. I like to think of the United States as a capable, productive country, but many services to the poor are temporary, inconsistent, unorganized and really only meant to help the poor along instead of raise them to higher, livable living standards. If in the U.S. we can find terrible cases of poverty and a void of constructive or beneficial programs for the poor, the problems of less developed countries and underdeveloped countries must be unbearable.
Looking at poverty issues in the world today, every country faces the problem of poverty at some level, whether it is plaguing the majority of their population or a few minority groups dispersed throughout. Today, half the world (around three billion people) lives on less than two dollars a day. There are 2.2 billion children in the world and 1 billion of them are growing up in poverty (Shah, 1). Many have tried to create solutions to this epidemic, through governmental policies and foreign aid, yet it is never adequate. Poverty, an effect (not a cause) of unbalanced policies and resource distribution, is created by current systems that deny chances to the poor (Geodesudbury.com). To date, no methods have made a significant dent in conquering the growing global problem of poverty, that is, with the exception of micro-lending, which offers an equal chance to the poor.
In the United States:
-Roughly 12-17% of the population is living below the poverty level at a given time.
-In Utica nearly 50% of the children live below the poverty line.

-Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. Whereas the US poverty line for a family of four is $21,000. Experiencing poverty in the US is drastically different from experiencing poverty in undeveloped parts of the world.

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
The link above has some eye-opening poverty demographics.