This text has been copied from the Junior information series by publisher Wolters Noordhoff.

Poor or Rich?

The queen is rich. She has giant palaces, big cars and expensive clothes. Servants make her food and gardeners mow the grass in her garden. And the queen can buy whatever she wants. She has money for anything.

Beggars are poor. They have to ask other people for money because they don’t have any. The difference between queens and beggars is clear: one is rich and the other is poor. But it’s not always easy to tell if someone is rich or poor. Look at yourself. Compared to the queen, you’re poor. But a beggar would think you are rich because you have more than he does.

In Holland there are people who have enough food, but can’t buy oranges or meat too much because they can’t afford it. Are these people poor or rich? It’s complicated.

Basic necessities and luxury

You can do a lot with money, but not everything. Take a look at your parents. There are things they have to pay for first with their money. Like the house, water, electricity and insurances. Food has to be bought, and clothes. These kinds of things are called basic necessities. These are things that you can’t live without. All these things together cost a lot of money. Nobody wants to spend all their money on basic necessities. People want to buy nice things with it too. So they buy a television, a racing bike or just random nice things. Things that aren’t really necessary, even though they’re kind of important. These are luxury items. People can’t buy these until they have paid for their basic necessities.

Poor and rich in The Netherlands

The Netherlands is a rich country, but there are still poor people living here. Some people look like they don’t have a lot of money, like homeless people. Sometimes they have ripped clothes or they haven’t been to a hairdresser in a long time. But not everyone who is poor looks unkempt. Most poor people look just the same as everyone else.

Friends

Of every ten people in The Netherlands, one of them is poor. There are probably kids in your class who don't have a lot of money. They can't join a sports club and they can't wear expensive clothes. They don't have fun videogames either, because those are too much money. That's why these kids can't talk about those kinds of things in the recess either.

These Dutch people are not as poor as some people in Africa, for example. But they are still poor. They live below the poverty level. That means that sometimes they don't even have enough money to pay for their necessities. They can't participate in fun activities that cost money. And if you can't participate, it’s harder to make friends. You're an outsider then and that makes some people feel lonely.

People can be poor because they don't have work, especially if that lasts a long time. Stuff breaks during the years, and if they're in welfare it's hard to buy a new fridge, for example. There are also fathers and mother who have to take care of a large family by themselves. That's very expensive. So there are lots of problems that can make you poor. It can be very hard to make sure that there is enough money every month.

Going out 

For a lot of people it's expensive to go to an amusement park. People who have a lot of money can do whatever they want in their free time. They can go to the zoo, go to the theatre, go to Paris for a weekend, and go on a nice vacation. Those things are good and healthy for everyone. People who are too poor for trips and vacations have to think of other activities that are cheaper, like taking a walk in the forest. That doesn't cost anything and it's fun too.

Poor and rich in the whole world

There are rich countries and poor countries. The rich countries are usually close together, like The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and England. 

There aren’t just poor people in poor countries. Rich men and women live there too, but they usually live together in expensive neighbourhoods. The neighbourhoods where the poor people live have small houses that aren't very strong. Sometimes they're made of corrugated iron or they have cardboard doors. These neighbourhoods are called slums. The people have to build their own houses and usually they use things that they have found in the streets. They don't have money to hire bricklayers.

Kids

In some countries the parents are so poor that they make their kids work. They need the money to buy food. Because the kids work, they can't go to school. So they don't learn a profession. That's why the future doesn't look good for the kids. They will have the same life as their parents. The parents probably had to work when they were kids too. And if you start working when you're young, your body will tire sooner. Then you won't be able to make as much money when you're older.

Help

Everyone who makes money has to pay part of it to the government. That's what we call taxes. Rich people earn a lot of money. They pay a lot of taxes. Those taxes are used to build schools and lay roads. The welfare for people who don't have a job is paid from that money too. And the extra support, which is an extra that people in welfare can get when, for example, their washing machine broke down and they can’t afford a new one.

Rich people can help poor people. And rich countries can help poor countries. The Netherlands helps countries that aren’t doing so well. That’s called the development project. The Netherlands helps those countries so that they’ll be better. The government sends money there. That money helps people buy things they need, like medication. But sometimes that’s not enough. If there aren’t enough doctors in a country, it would be better to send a doctor there than money. And often it’s even better to send someone there who can teach people to be doctors. Then in awhile, there will be plenty of doctors.

A better future

If you live in a rich country you might want to do something for poor countries. The government has development projects but people can donate money to charities as well. Charities are clubs of people who want to help poor people. One of these charities is our foundation: Help Laos. Our foundation accomplishes many plans to help poor people, as you can read on the website: www.helplaos.nl.