GENERATION Z are probably the most optimistic generation on the subject of believing that there may very well be an end to global poverty, a latest survey suggests.
Twelve- to 27-year-olds are more confident than older generations that it is feasible to finish poverty. They are also likelier than older generations to say that its eradication is a critical issue.
Other surveys of the Generation Z cohort have also shown them to be amongst probably the most generous and philanthropic, giving often to charity.
The pollsters Savanta, on behalf of the Christian charity Compassion, surveyed 2213 over-18s for the survey. Sixty-one per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds said that they believed that it was possible to finish extreme poverty, compared with 34 per cent of over-55s. Nearly half of the younger respondents rated ending poverty as one in all the world’s top priorities, compared with 35 per cent of the older age group.
That figure was highest for 18- to 24-year-olds, of whom 54 per cent said that it was one in all the world’s most vital issues.
Overall, fewer than half of UK adults believed that it was possible to finish poverty, but more proportionally more Christians consider this than others.
Compassion’s survey found that, by faith group, 46 per cent of Christians believed that ending poverty was possible. This figure was higher for Muslim (74 per cent), Hindu (62 per cent), and Buddhist (56 per cent) respondents, although the variety of respondents from these faith groups was much smaller.
Other faith groups were also more prone to rate poverty as an important issue that the world needed to tackle now: just 18 per cent of the Christians said this, compared with 30 per cent of the Muslim respondents.
The UN marked 17 October as a day to lift awareness concerning the must end global poverty. The Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine, and climate change are reversing years of progress against poverty, although progress towards the goal had already slowed lately. Nearly nine per cent of the world’s population now live to tell the tale lower than $2.15 a day, which classifies them as in extreme poverty.
The UN Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating poverty by 2030 is anticipated to fail: predictions suggest that an estimated seven per cent of the worldwide population will still be in extreme poverty in six years.
Compassion UK said that folks of all generations needed to work together on eradicating poverty.
Compassion UK’s head of partnerships UK north, Luke Gratton, said: “These findings are a testament to the hopeful spirit and global awareness of younger generations. To truly eradicate poverty, it is crucial for everybody — young and old — to proceed engaging with these realities. Optimism have to be paired with strategic, long-term motion that understands the depth and complexity of the problem.
“Together, we will address not only extreme poverty, but its underlying causes,” which included a scarcity of education, of health care, and of access to economic opportunities, he said. “Every generation has a task to play on this fight.”
