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  • Since the early 80s the global number of people who live in poverty is declining

  • But up to this day over 595 million people can't cover their basic costs of living

  • and provide financial security for themselves

  • What if everyone's income was taken care of by government support

  • An income as an human right

  • Hooray for the universal basic income

  • Unlike social assistant benefits the UVI is an unconditional income

  • that's sufficient to meet every person's basic needs

  • A fixed amount regardless of a person's gender, family composition, employment status or income

  • Since the 60s there has been a number of pilots and experiments

  • Derived from this research some results are very clear

  • Homelessness and hunger can be eliminated and people's self-esteem will rise

  • Nobody is dependent on another person anymore

  • and parents can focus primarily on raising their children

  • People will start working fewer hours which means more room available on the labour market

  • People will become higher educated

  • Prosperity in developing countries will rise and economic migration will decrease

  • But the latter only applies when the UBI is implemented on a global scale

  • Otherwise countries that are able to provide a UBI will become more attractive for economic migration

  • So how realistic is a UBI?

  • Well, some governments just can't afford a basic income without the support of wealthier countries

  • Other governments might need to cut on other expenses like health care, education or defense

  • or raise taxes since the UBI is slightly more expensive than systems currently used

  • Within UBI countries the role of the government will increase

  • and their citizens will become more dependent on the state

  • As for now, pilots and experiments are conducted in several countries

  • only on a national or local level, focused on specific groups

  • Will we be able to work together as global citizens in order to realize a global universal basic income?

  • That's the challenge that lies ahead of us

  • Did you learn anything?

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Since the early 80s the global number of people who live in poverty is declining

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