The Poverty Cycle

The cycle of poverty has been described as a phenomenon where poor families become trapped in poverty for generations.

Because they have no or limited access to critical resources, such as:

Ø  Education

Ø  Financial services

Subsequent generations are also impoverished.

There are multiple cycles of poverty- based on, among other things:

Ø  Economic

Ø  Social

Ø  Spiritual

Ø  Geographical factors

Many cycles overlap or perpetuate new cycles and therefore any attempt to depict the cycle of poverty will be far more simplistic than realistic.

The figure below shows- in very simplistic terms- how a cycle of poverty related to hunger keeps a person or household poor in one of the world’s developing countries.