In today's interconnected world, we face a multitude of challenges that threaten our collective future. Threatened global issues like climate change, economic inequality, and geopolitical tensions are not just headlines—they are urgent concerns that demand global cooperation and action. While these issues are vast and complex, understanding them is the first step toward creating effective solutions.
Global Issues and Their Far-Reaching Consequences
The economic issues are the fundamental challenges faced by all countries. Let us discuss the most threatening economic issues for the world.
Global Warming
Global warming is an increase in average air temperature near the surface of the Earth over the past 100 to 200 years. It has taken a long time, but human activities have been the driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of coal, oil, and gas, which produce heat-trapping gases.
Global warming occurs when carbon dioxide and other air pollutants collect in the atmosphere and absorb sunlight radiation that has bounced off the Earth's surface.
There are many causes of global warming, such as burning fossil fuels, deforestation,
agriculture and farming, etc.
Poverty
Poverty refers to a lack of enough resources to provide the necessities of life, such as food, clean water, shelter, and clothing. Recently, poverty has been a big issue faced by different countries like Pakistan, India, Ghana, Kenya, and many more. In poverty, people can not fulfill their basic needs, and their living standards are going down and down, which affects their confidence and self-esteem. Some poor people think that they are poor because their parents were poor, so they will remain poor forever.
There are many causes of poverty, such as;
- Unemployment
- Inequality
- Lack of government support
- Ineffective educational system
- lack of reserves
- Conflicts
Unemployment
Unemployment refers to individuals who are employable and actively seeking a job but cannot find one. It’s an important economic indicator that is often used to assess the health of an economy. High levels of unemployment generally indicate economic distress, while low levels suggest a more robust economy.
There are three main types of unemployment: cyclical, structural, and frictional unemployment.
Frictional unemployment:
It occurs when people voluntarily change jobs. When any person leaves a job, it naturally takes time to search for a new job, and the period between these two jobs is frictional unemployment.
It’s often due to voluntary reasons, such as moving to a new city, changing careers, or seeking better opportunities. Example: A person leaving a job to search for a better position or a recent graduate entering the job market.
Cyclical unemployment:
This type of unemployment is interlinked with economic upturns and downturns, with unemployment rising during recessions and declining during periods of economic growth. Example: A car manufacturer laying off workers during a recession due to decreased consumer demand.
Structural unemployment:
It occurs when people do not have the skills according to job. New technology has brought changes in the organization, such as workflow automation that displaces the need for human labor. Example: Workers in industries like coal mining are losing their jobs due to automation or the shift to renewable energy sources.
Food Insecurity
Food insecurity refers to a condition in which a person has limited access to safe, nutritious food and a sufficient amount of it. According to a report, in the United States, fifty million people are food insecure, and consequence of food insecurity, people have many health issues. UN report reveals that 122 million more people pushed into hunger since 2019 due to multiple crises. According to the latest research, around 735 million people are currently facing hunger compared to 613 million in 2019.
The causes of food insecurity are unemployment, conflict, gender inequality, climate change, food waste, etc. The latest Hunger Hotspots report by FAQ and the WFP identifies 18 hotspots that will require urgent action between November 2023 and April 2024.
Debt Crisis
When any government loses the ability to pay back its debt is called a debt crisis. In other words, we can say that a debt crisis is a situation where debt leads to human rights violations being denied, or even being out ahead of life itself.
There is a difference between individual and country borrowing. If an individual borrows money, he uses the money for himself, but when a country borrows money, it is used for the welfare of its citizens. The citizens are not notified or informed of the purpose of the loan or its terms and conditions.
The causes of the debt crisis are complex and rooted in economic policies and development choices. Examples of countries that are facing the debt crisis are Greece, Ghana, Haiti, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.
Economic Inequality
Economic Inequality is an unequal distribution of wealth and opportunities in different groups of society. Global economic inequality is a very vast term, it overlaps with other inequalities in health, education, and many other dimensions. These inequalities are within the country as well as between the different countries.Economic inequality creates a huge gap between the low-income and higher-income groups. Some inequality is inevitable in a market-based economic system as a result of the difference in talent, efforts, and luck, excessive inequality could lead to political polarization, and ultimately lower economic growth.
The causes of economic inequality are global factors and country-specific factors.
Health Issues
The health issues that transcend national boundaries and government and take the help of global forces to handle the health issues of people, for example, COVID-19, create health emergencies in humanitarian settings. If we discuss malaria, venereal disease, HIV/AIDS, nutrient and environmental pollution are also health-alarming issues.
World Health Organization(WHO) was established on 7 April 1948-a date we celebrate every year as World Health Day, At that time WHO most priorities were malaria, women's and children's health, tuberculosis, nutrition, etc, with the time being new disease like diabetes, cancer, HIV/AIDS are also added in WHO agenda.
Terrorism
The global terrorism database(GTB) defines a terrorist attack as"the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state factor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation". Terrorism is a threat directly or indirectly to economic growth, due to the fear of terrorism, investors are not starting new projects. They limited their business activities. In 9/11 terrorist attacks on America are examples of the worst terrorism, and the impact of this incident led the world to enter in new dimension.
Beyond the immediate impact, terrorism produces disruptions to the broader economy that may only appear days, weeks, or months after the terrorist incident.
If the terrorist attack rate is increased, then the economic growth of the country, investment, and consumption are affected.
The causes of terrorism are based on the following factors: a lack of political legitimacy, ethnic separation, support for external factors, and ideological beliefs.
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. There are three main types of pollution, air pollution, land pollution, and water pollution. Recently, pollution has become an economic issue; it is a great danger to human health, which has serious consequences for our economy.
According to the World Health Organization(WHO), air pollution can produce a large amount of toxic gases, which impair children's development and lead to chronic diseases such as respiratory tract infections.
In 2015, WHO and OECD estimated that the economic cost of premature death and disability from air pollution in Europe is close to USD 1,6 trillion.
The main causes of pollution are fuel oil, natural gas used to heat homes, by-products of manufacturing and power generation, garbage thrown into water, waste chemicals in water, and radioactive elements.
Refugee Rights
The term "refugee" means "asylum seeker", a person who has left their country and is seeking protection in another country. Most people in the world forcefully or willingly leave their houses. There are many reasons to leave their countries, sometimes for a short time but sometimes forever. Some people leave their houses for jobs or higher education, and sometimes people migrate as a result of conflict or violence, and other reasons like hunger, extreme poverty, economic inequality, climate change, or other natural disasters.
According to the UN refugee agency,52% of all refugees and others in need of international protection come from just three countries: Syria, Ukraine, and Afghanistan.
Over 26 million people have fled, and refugees are an economic burden for the countries. Refugees often enter their country with very limited resources and limited language skills, meaning that they rely on government assistance for housing, food, healthcare, language classes, and other expenses.
Nuclear Power
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be produced from nuclear fission, nuclear decay, and nuclear fusion reactions. Mostly, electricity is produced by nuclear uranium and plutonium in nuclear power plants. Nuclear power provides almost 15 percent of the world's electricity.
Nuclear is an economic issue because there are many risks involved, such as;
- Weapons proliferation
- Radioactive waste
- Limited fuel supply
- Meltdown risk
- Impact on the environment
Cyber Security
According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), "Cybersecurity is the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information".
A successful cyber attack can cause major damage to your business at the individual level. It can affect your bottom line, as well as your business standing and consumer trust. The impact of a security breach can be broadly divided into three categories: financial, reputational, and legal. In this modern world, one single security breach can expose the personal information of millions of people.
Corruption
In Wikipedia, corruption is defined as, Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority, to acquire illicit benefits, or abuse power for one's personal gain.
Corruption affects the social, economic, and political growth of all countries. Economic development is not possible, foreign investors are hesitant to invest, and local investors are not in a position to run all the economic activities.
The causes of corruption are government intervention in the economy and the liberalization of policies. The deregulation and privatization of certain industries, as well as low wages, trade barriers, and low prices, are also included.
Globalization
Globalization is a process of interaction between countries. The term globalization became popular after the Cold War in the 1990s. There are new ways of bonding through which people interact, interrogate, and enhance their business.
The wide range of effects of globalization is complex and politically changing. Some critics blame the pressures of globalization for encouraging an environment that exploits workers in countries that do not offer sufficient protections. Globalization has brought some economic issues like unequal economic growth, job displacement, lack of global businesses, and exploitation of cheaper labor markets.
.jpg)
0 Comments