The Indonesian Government has identified adult illiteracy as one of the major causes of this relatively high poverty prevalence.

UNESCO: AKRAB! (Literacy Creates Power)

This has led to comparisons with Appalachia, which has also relied on a declining extractive industry (coal mining) and has suffered from high unemployment, poverty and a relatively unskilled workforce.

ECONOMIST: California's Central Valley

However, for individuals in poorer societies who believe they are relatively better off than their peers, the negative effects of poverty are softened, as they report significantly greater satisfaction with their lives.

FORBES: Why Consumers In Poor Countries Try Harder To 'Keep Up With The Joneses'

According to the Federal Interagency Forum on Children and Family Statistics, which is a collaborative effort of 18 federal agencies, 19 percent of children lived in families with incomes below the poverty level in 1997, a proportion that has remained relatively stable for the last two decades.

UNESCO: II Part Analytic Section

We are in addition to being citizens of the United States with our own concerns, we are also relatively privileged, I might add, citizens of the world, and poverty at the global level is a very important, very compelling moral and political problems affecting all of us.

NPR: World Bank Changes, Understanding Unemployment

There is also a relatively poor access to financial resources due to the unequal distribution of income in South Africa which has left many in poverty.

FORBES: South Africa