Top 5 World Problems

Problems

1. Poverty: 80% of the world's population lives on less than $10.00 a day, half the population lives on less than $2.50 a day, and about 1.3 billion people live in extreme poverty, which is living on less than $1.25 per day. Some of the most poverty stricken people on earth are children, and about 22,000 children die each day from poverty. 805 million people are hungry, and which leads to disease, growth stunting, and death.
2.  War: The wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria have been the causes of millions of fatalities and millions of refugees displaced. Our national debt continues to rise as we send troops overseas and the refugee crisis in Europe has also contributed to the fall of economies. 
3.  Lack of fresh water: Over 750 million people do not have access to clean drinking water.  About 2,300 people are killed everyday from inadequately filtered drinking water, which causes illness and diarrhea. This clean water epidemic causes millions of people to spend the majority of their day on a search for water, most of which could be contaminated and dangerous.  Because of this, they cannot pursue any other productive activities such as going to school or working. Only 2.5% of the world's water is freshwater, and only 1% is ready to be used by humans.  This 1% is not dispersed fairly throughout the world.
4. Insufficient energy, loss of fossil fuels:  As a population, we rely so much on nonrenewable energy sources such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal. We are using these resources so much faster than they can be replenished, as it takes millions of years for them to form.  By burning them we are also contributing to the pollution and global warming epidemics.
5.  Terrorism:  Terrorism is commonly blamed for the start of the wars.. Since ISIS is a focus in the news lately, and a cause of a lot of the fear, globally.  The attacks in November in Paris sparked another outrage and a focus on terrorism in the media. 

Solutions

1.  Insufficient energy, loss of fossil fuels:  This is already being fixed in most industrialized countries.  Governments have been implementing programs to start using renewable energy and replace fossil fuel usage with new technologies. 
2.  Terrorism:  After the terrorist attacks in 2001, the US has tried to prevent these acts by implementing all forms of security in airports, border patrol, and other areas of transportation.  Bomb threats are taken very seriously, and police and fire rescue are quick to act on any threat or suspicion involving terrorism. 
3.  Lack of fresh water: Only 10 nations use 65% of the 1% of water that is ready to be consumed by humans, so we definitely have an unfair distribution of clean, useable water.  We need to significantly lower the amount of water used by industrialized countries, and make cheaper water available in developing nations.  Like I said earlier, decreasing the birth rate for developing countries will help with the amount of water available to those places.
4.  War:  Because the wars are dangerous, deathly, and effecting our economy, political campaigns have been centered around how to defeat ISIS and pull out of the middle east.  War is inevitable, but we should do everything we can as a country and with the UN to put a stop to the ongoing warfare in the middle east and Africa.
5.  Poverty:  So many charities and non-profits fight poverty.  With so many children being born in poorer nations, there is a constant increase and poverty and our resources cannot keep up with the demand.  I think if we can keep overpopulation down in developing countries and significantly decrease the birth rate in these nations, we can possibly supply them with enough food and water to survive, and help them become educated, industrialized nations.

Unfortunately, the biggest problems were also the hardest to solve.  I rated poverty as the world's biggest problem and also the hardest to solve. Poverty is such a complicated issue as it involves so many different aspects in so many countries and continents.  Less prominent issues, such as lack of energy and terrorism are easier to solve because they are easier to control.  Terrorism is only a part of war which is the bigger issue and harder to solve.  Terrorism can be controlled by better security measures and awareness.  Alternative energy sources, such as solar power, can be used to control the fossil fuel crisis.