While many of us are living in the comforts of a first world country, over 836 million people from various nations around the globe still live in what the UN labels as “extreme poverty.” While there are multiple ways to approach the issue, I believe that the 17 goals outlined by the United Nations in their sustainable development plan are the best way to improve the living conditions of the citizens of this planet.
The 17 goals range from broad tasks such as simply ending poverty to ensuring the developing nations have a growing economy and decent infrastructure. Out of the 17 goals, the one goal I believe is the most important and necessary for the other goals to be accomplished is the 9th goal which aims to ensure that every country has a capable industry, infrastructure, and innovative workforce.
Though every goal outlined by the UN is important for the world to become a better place, none of them can truly be reached without these developing nations first being able to care for themselves. Hunger, poverty, inequality, and pollution can not be stopped as long as these countries don’t have some method of income, which cannot be attained without a capable industry, infrastructure, and workforce of its own; no country can thrive solely on foreign aid. Once a nation has a means of making money, whether it be through trade, tourism or taxes, it can actually afford to reach these costly goals that only the most wealthy countries can fully reach. This is apparent in countries such as South Korea, China, and India, all of which were subject to extreme poverty in decades past but saw a drastic increase in standard of living after ramping up their industries, infrastructure, and workforce. While China and India are still developing nations and far from reaching all the goals, the change in these countries and regions is easily visible as they rely more and more on their industry and infrastructure.