ABSTRACT
The Global South is characterized by poverty and underdevelopment. Efforts by the United Nations to eradicate poverty through the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 yielded so little in the Global South, except for a few countries in Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa, in general, and Zambia, in particular, had many of its people, especially older people in rural areas living in poverty. This was despite decades of sustained aid and adoption of social protection. While industrialization and technological advancements have spurred economic development and reduced poverty levels in the Global North, it was almost the opposite in the Global South. Instead, it caused rural-urban migration of able-bodied men, thereby depleting rural areas of labour for agriculture, the main livelihood in these areas. Consequently, rural areas were becoming food insecure.
While poverty was higher in urban areas in the Global North, rural areas were hardest hit in the Global South. This chapter discusses poverty among rural older people in Zambia. It argues that although the number of this subgroup was low, it had significance due to increasing care responsibilities resulting from high numbers of orphans and vulnerable children due to malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV and AIDS, as well as migration. Climate change was also impacting negatively on livelihoods. It concludes that there was a dearth of leadership to harness abundant natural resources and restore accountability and order.
