In 2019, the United Nations have stated that 1 billion people live in poverty in the developing world. This essay will argue that poor health care, early marriages and poor infrastructure are caused by political factors such as corrupt and incompetent governments. 

One factor that affects poverty in the developing world is poor health. 15% of the population in Mozambique, between the ages of 15-49 years old have HIV/AIDS. This causes poverty because if people are ill they can’t work or go to school and if they can’t work then they don't receive money so they can't afford basic resources. If the children aren’t able to go to school then they won't get a good education and therefore won't be able to get a formal well-paying job this means that they stay in the poverty cycle. However, the underlying root of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa is due to corrupt governments taking money that should have been used for more important issues/tasks. It is estimated that corruption costs the continent of Africa around $150 billion a year, which could have been used to help treat and prevent the further spread of HIV/AIDS in countries like Mozambique. This causes countries like Mozambique to not have rough money and resources to help improve their health care, so their people stay ill and stay in the endless poverty cycle due to their corrupt governments. 

Another factor that affects poverty in the developing world is early marriages. In Zimbabwe, 1 in every 3 girls is married before they reach the age of 18. This is because girls are seen as an income if they are married off, so parents don’t have to pay for an education or basic necessities for these girls. In 2018, 31 million girls of primary school age were denied access to education in the developing world. This means that they can’t get good jobs as they are illiterate or have to stay home and be mother’s because they were married off which continues the poverty cycle for young women and girls. However, the underlying reason why child brides are not a thing of the past is that incompetent government is not willing to create news laws/funding available to get people out of poverty and are not willing to spend more money on education or ensuring the girls are healthy and sage during childhood. In general, African governments spend 2% of the country’s wealth on health and education combined compared to 20% on the military. This causes countries like Zimbabwe to not be able to have many women having high paying jobs like being doctors or lawyers. 54% of women who have a job in Zimbabwe work in the informal job sector consisting of agriculture, fishing and forestry. This means that women don't have a very good education or health leading to possible problems when having children at such young ages, so they can't even do the low paying jobs, therefore they are stuck in the poverty circle due to their incompetent governments not giving enough money to improve resources and not providing support to the general public. 

 A further factor that affects poverty in the developing world is poor infrastructure. 15% of the world’s population live in the continent of Africa, however, only 1% of the global manufacturing takes place there. This means that there aren't many factory jobs for people to do so they have to do more informal jobs like farming. Also, it impacts Africa’s economy as there isn't as much trade that could be happening which could help many countries out of poverty by having these job/trade opportunities. However, the underlying reason why manufacturing businesses don’t want to take place in Africa is due to the way corrupt governments act. 18 out of 28 African governments are seen as ‘completely failing’ due to unaddressed corruption. This means that the governments that are considered corrupt are taking away money that could be put towards more valuable things such as health care, infrastructure, education or protecting people from harm. The level of corruption varies from country to country for instance; in 2014 Malawi lost 1% of the GBP ($32 million) to corruption, or the ‘cashgate scandal’ also in Malawi was where a clerk had stolen up to $300,000 from Malawi's government. Therefore, for good infrastructure and more trade to come to the African continent, there need to be governments put in place that want to be better for the general public and have no corruption at all levels in the new governments. 

So, in conclusion, political factors are more important than other factors in causing poverty in the developing world. One factor that affects poverty in the developing world is poor health care but it is due to corrupt governments not giving enough support and money to train staff or get supplies to the hospitals to help the people get better, which impacts the poverty cycle more as it could solve the issue of healthcare in these countries.  Another factor that affects this is early marriages of young girls but it is because of incompetent governments not making news laws/funding, or making education and healthcare cheaper is the reason parents feel it is the only way to survive in the struggle of poverty by selling their daughters to older men to become their wives. Finally, a factor that affects poverty in the developing world is poor infrastructure and the lack of businesses/trade willing to go to Africa however due to the exceedingly corrupt governments in Africa this makes businesses/trades second guess if these governments can be trusted with their money and investments. Therefore, this essay shows that political factors outweigh any other factors because they are the root of the issue of poverty in the developing world.