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The number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen sharply over the past 30 years. In 1990, about 40% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty, or 2 billion people, but that has dropped to about 10% of the world's population, or about 700 million people. This was mainly caused by the enormous economic growth of mainly Asian countries, which made people richer.
But why are some other countries so poor?

Since there is no easy answer to this, we will answer this question using different geographic perspectives. The main causes of poverty are discussed from a natural, historical, economic and political perspective.

We start with the natural perspective. In this perspective, the natural environment is mentioned as a cause of poverty, while other countries are lucky with their natural environment.
Rich countries may have had an advantage. For example, there are many raw materials, which can supply industries and profits can rise. It is also possible that the land has a fertile soil. This is often the case in deltas, areas where distributaries are formed just before they flow into the sea, making the land fertile.
Furthermore, some countries have natural harbors and navigable rivers, which make trade easier and profits can rise.
Other countries lack these opportunities and therefore have fewer opportunities for development. For example, some countries do not have access to the sea. We call these countries “landlocked countries”. These are countries that do not have access to the sea, but are therefore dependent on their neighbors for trade. Examples are Mongolia, the Central African Republic and Paraguay.

Then the historical perspective. A country can still be affected by the country's history. This includes, for example, the slave trade or other consequences of the colonial past. Think of the artificial boundaries drawn by colonial powers. Because these borders did not coincide with the borders of the habitat of different groups of peoples, some groups had to live together in one country and conflicts arose, which seriously hindered the development of the country.
Some see the world system, which is divided into the center, the periphery and the semiperiphery as a result of the colonial past. They argue that it is very difficult for countries to take a different position in this world system and that it is therefore extremely difficult for countries to experience economic growth.

The next pespective is the economic perspective. Most important is the poverty trap. Normally we assume that an investment today will lead to higher income in the future, whether that future is tomorrow, next week, next year or in 10 years. But people trapped in poverty do not have enough money to invest in themselves or their families. For example, they have too little money to buy food, so that tomorrow they have less energy and can work less hard or less long, and therefore earn even less tomorrow. Another example is that investments in health care can be postponed, causing people to become ill and unable to work in the future, which in turn reduces income.
Only after a certain amount of income the return on investments increases, so that they can become richer in the future. People who are drawing attention for foreign aid support this vision

Yet there are also researchers who question the poverty trap. For example, they argue that a varied diet can be put together with little money, even in the poorest areas in the world and that health care measures, such as vaccinations, are extremely cheap nowadays, so that even the poorest can afford it. As a result, their future, with less illness and more income by being able to work harder or longer, could quickly rise.

The fact that the poorest do not choose to invest the money in varied food and healthcare is due to other causes, such as a lack of knowledge. So they argue that the poverty trap does not exist.

Other economic characteristics include a lack of good education and good health care. Poor education means that the talent that the population has is not used and poor health care can cause people to die at a young age.
The final economic feature is a deteriorating terms of trade. In the video about Global Shift you have already seen that by exporting unprocessed raw materials, poorer countries can often import fewer products in the future with the same export.

The last perspective is the political perspective. Wars, and conflicts caused by artificial borders, often have a destabilizing effect on a country, making economic growth difficult.
Some scientists emphasize that a malfunctioning government can be a huge constraint to economic growth. If there is good and neutral legislation in a country, it pays off for people to invent a new invention.