What Causes Poverty?

 Poverty is a difficult cycle to break and often passes from one generation to the next. It is often determined by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, and geography. Many people are born into poverty and have little hope of overcoming it. Others may fall into poverty because of negative economic conditions, natural disasters, or surging living costs, as well as drug addiction, depression, and mental health issues.

Access to good schools, healthcare, electricity, clean drinking water, and other critical services remains elusive for many and is often determined by socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and geography. Other root causes of poverty include:

• Limited to no job growth
• Poor infrastructure
• Conflict and war
• High cost of living
• Social barriers
• Lack of government support

For those able to move out of poverty, progress is often temporary. Economic shocks, food insecurity, and climate change threaten their gains and may force them back into poverty.

Typical consequences of poverty include alcohol and substance abuse, little to no access to education, poor housing and living conditions, and increased levels of disease. Heightened poverty is likely to cause increased tensions in society as inequality increases. These issues often lead to rising crime rates in communities affected by poverty.