Comparative perspective on poverty and social exclusion: Qualitative content analysis of documents from countries representing different world regions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63775/h9tm1725Keywords:
Poverty, Social exclusion, Content analysisAbstract
This article provides a qualitative content analysis of documents dealing with poverty and social exclusion from and/or about countries representing different world regions: Timor-Leste (East Asia and Pacific), Estonia (Europe and Central Asia), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Latin America and the Caribbean), Syria (Middle East and North Africa), the US (North America), Sri Lanka (South Asia), Burkina Faso (Sub-Saharan Africa). The findings reveal that the main topics referred to in the documents are government programs and national strategies as well as strategies of international organizations, the risk of poverty and social exclusion and percentage comparisons for specific groups (women, the disabled, the elderly, migrants), recommendations for governments, vulnerability (as a result of shocks) and sustainability in relation to poverty and social exclusion, and methodologies for evaluating poverty and social exclusion. When it comes to regional and country specifics, some of the examples are the aging of societies in Europe and North America; vulnerability due to conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa region; high percentage of the population experiencing poverty in Timor-Leste which represents East Asia. Lastly, the study also emphasizes the need for more research offering comparisons on a global level, since poverty and social exclusion are pressing issues across different regions of the world, especially as a result of the global impacts of shocks like the Covid-19 pandemic and the wars in Ukraine and Iran.
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