Final answer:
Low-income nations are mostly found in Africa and Asia, contain a majority of the world's population living in poverty, and face challenges of absolute poverty, especially affecting women. The wealth distribution categorizes countries as Global North and Global South, with the latter being poorer. These nations struggle with access to essential services and vulnerabilities to socio-economic and environmental issues.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to the geographic and socioeconomic distribution of low-income nations in the world. According to the World Bank, low-income countries are those with a per capita GNI of $1,035 or less in 2019, such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, and Yemen. These economies are predominantly located in Africa and Asia, which also house the majority of the world's population. Despite a common misconception, not all low-income countries are in Latin America, and they do not represent the entire population of low-income nations.
The challenges faced by these countries are substantial, with women being disproportionately affected by poverty, and a significant portion of the population living in absolute poverty. In Africa, there are considerable disparities in poverty levels even within the continent, with some countries experiencing lower rates of poverty than others. Asia, on the other hand, has the majority of its impoverished population living in dense urban slums often under severe conditions, especially in South Asia.
Global patterns of wealth distribution often categorize countries in terms of the Global North and Global South, with the former generally referring to wealthier nations in the northern hemisphere, although there are exceptions. The concentration of poverty in the Global South is significant; for example, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia harbor approximately 85 percent of the world's extremely poor. These individuals endure a lack of access to essential services and are vulnerable to a variety of socioeconomic and environmental risks.
It is important to note that the high levels of poverty in low-income countries contribute to larger global issues such as hunger, disease, and systemic inequality. Hence, low-income nations do indeed contain a majority of the world's people living under compounded socio-economic distress.