Causes of poverty

The causes of poverty include changing trends in a country’s economy, lack of education, high divorce rate which causes feminization of poverty, having a culture of poverty, overpopulation, epidemic diseases such as AIDS and malaria, and environmental problems such as lack of rainfall.

The United States reduced poverty in the elderly with the creation of the social security program Almost 50 percent of people in the world today live on less than $2.50 per day.

The poverty rate among seniors in the United States is at 9 percent as of 2010^[update]. In 1960 the official poverty rate among the elderly was 35 percent. The Netherlands offers a universal pension and leads the world with a 1.7 percent poverty rate among the elderly. Extreme poverty may affect the lifespan and the lack of money via some type of pension system increases the poverty rate among the elderly worldwide.

Extreme weather may be a cause of poverty in many countries. Drought, rainfall and flooding are some of the biggest causes of poverty by weather. When natural disasters do not gain media attention raising money becomes more difficult. This is made worse when governments spend money in the capitals instead of the poorest areas which need it most.

Tony Blair in a BBC discussion states that the cause of poverty is inequality of opportunity.

The International Food Study Institute had a brief on a collection of extensive studies that analyzed the causes of poverty, analyzing household data and reviewing empirical research in 20 countries. They found that some of the major causes of poverty were the inability of poor households to invest in property and education, limited access to credit, in some cases these instances produce more poverty via inherited poverty. The systematic exclusion of ethnic minorities, scheduled castes, tribes, women and people with disabilities and health issues. Persistence of poverty is partially attributed to these classes not having access to institutions and markets.

War and violence may be some of the primary causes of poverty. Political violence and organized crime have affected 39 countries since 2000, in those countries the poverty level is twice that of non-violent countries. These two items, poverty and violence may also feed themselves. When asked why young people joined gangs and rebel groups in half a dozen countries, two thirds of the respondents said that unemployment was their main reason, only one tenth cited a belief in the cause.

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