What is the Cycle of Poverty?
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The Cycle of Poverty has been described as a phenomenon where poor families become trapped in poverty for generations. Because they have limited or no access to critical resources, such as education and financial services, subsequent generations are also impoverished.
Due to the many root causes of poverty and the complexity with how poverty is measured and defined, there are multiple Cycles of Poverty-based on, among other things, economic, social, spiritual and 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 diagram 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.
- The above information is reprinted with kind permission from the Christian Reformed Church. Visit www.crcna.org
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