Poverty In Scotland

D.S.S. statistics from 1993 show that 28% of children under 16 in 
Scotland live in households which are dependent on Income 
Support. Ten years earlier it was 15%, twenty years ago, about 
10%.

Estimates extracted from British wide figures suggest that 38% of 
Scottish children live in poverty. This rises to 42% when only 
the under 5's are considered.

Glasgow has a 19% unemployment rate, compared to the 9% British 
average.

The number of adults dependent on Income Support in Scotland has 
grown from 451 000 (9% of the population) in 1979 to 805 000 (16% 
of the population) in 1991. Between 1981 and 1991, the number of 
people living in poverty in Strathclyde doubled.

Poverty across the globe

The 1994 Human Development Report issued by the United Nations 
reveals that :

-"Between 1960 and 1991, the share of world income for the 
richest 20 percent of the global population rose from 70 percent 
to 85 percent. Over the same period, all but the richest 20% saw 
their share of world income fall - and the meagre share of the 
poorest 20 percent declined from 2.3 percent to 1.4 percent."

- The military budgets of developing countries totals $125 
billion annually, just 12 percent of that would make it possible 
for a billion people to visit a healthcare professional, prevent 
two million children from dying of preventable infectious 
diseases every year, provide proper diet for 192 million 
malnourished children and access to safe water to 1.3 billion 
people.

- In 1993, more than 35 million persons in industrialised 
countries were seeking jobs.