Poverty is a lack of finance, status, and other material possession. It is the deprivation of the overall wellbeing of a person and includes several dimensions. It refers to the deprived economic and social conditions. It indicates the low income and inability to acquire basic necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, education, and healthcare. The basis on which poverty is defined varies from country to country. There is a lot of economic disparity and people are suffering because of it. The government must work upon decreasing the same and diminishing poverty.
Today, many people are living in poverty all over the world. It means insecurity, helplessness, and marginalization of individuals and families. It means being exposed to vulnerability and humiliation. Many people suffer due to extreme poverty also referred to as absolute poverty. Absolute poverty is when people do not even have access to adequate resources measured in terms of nutrition to maintain a minimum level of health. Another type of poverty is relative poverty. It is that type of poverty when people don’t meet government determined minimum standards of living as compared to the rest of the population.
The cycle of poverty refers to the phenomenon where poverty continues for at least three generations i.e. the family has no living intimates who own and can transfer the social, cultural and intellectual capital important to change the economic condition. There are limited or no resources for such families. There are many drawbacks that impact the circular course which makes it very difficult for the individual to break the cycle of poverty. Due to poor economic and social conditions and lack of education and connection, it becomes impossible to get out of poverty.
The main causes of the cycle of poverty could be lack of resources such as land, finance, education, knowledge and technical assistance, natural disasters, low productivity and income, unemployment, unhealthiness, and business failure. It is something that passes to the next generation and becomes a trap. Thus, it is a cycle that is hard to break. Poverty impacts people negatively and hampers the growth and development of society as a whole. Preventing poverty is a major issue globally.
