How closely associated is poverty with hunger?

The concepts of poverty and hunger are greatly intertwined, many people suffer from both because of poverty. As society continues to progress those that suffer from poverty lack the money and resources to be able to fulfill basic human needs such as hunger. Those who suffer from hunger are usually those with poor life quality.

My argument is similar to the ideas of Asta Mikalauskiene, one of the authors of, “Social Aspect of Sustainable Development: Issues of Poverty and Food Shortage”. In his article, Mikalauskiene argued that people living in poverty, live with a lot of risks; individuals are vulnerable, health problems, quality of life are generally lower.

For example, Mikalauskiene writes, “Persons living in poverty are at the group of risk; individuals are more vulnerable, often have more frequent health problems, their resources and quality of life are generally lower than the national average.” (Mikalauskiene 2018)

In other words, poverty and hunger are connected in one way or another. In the context of people living in poverty, those people are often exposed to greater risk and lower quality of life. However, the shortage of food can be solved but there are many underlying requirements needed for that to happen.

Thus, “However, the problem of hunger is easier to solve than difficult illnesses and the threat of their outbreak. The world has enough food to feed all who suffer from hunger (Gilbert, 2004). Unfortunately, this requires the appropriate political decisions, the balancing of the extraction and production of food resources, and the adjustment of the society’s food consumption habits.” (Mikalauskiene 2018)

Strictly speaking, the idea of poverty causing hunger can be solved, yet, it has not been because of the underlying conditions that are needed to be met before this can happen.

Mikalauskiene, A. (2018) Social Aspect of Sustainable Development:
Issues of Poverty and Food Shortage. Vol. 14, №2 (2018), 59–60