How to Break the Cycle of Poverty

Studies on how to break the cycle of poverty indicate that education, basic health and resources and mindset all play important roles.[1]

Education is key to building the skills, confidence and vision that lead to a better future. Yet, increases in education from generation to generation have faltered in the last 50 years. About 50% of children born in the 1980s in developing countries have no more education than their parents (born in the 1960s).[2] If this trend continues, goals of ending extreme poverty will remain a huge challenge.

Lack of education contributes to a poverty mindset, which unintentionally gets passed on from generation to generation because parents and children lack the foundational skills, and thus the hope and dreams, to climb out of poverty. They see no way out, and without outside assistance, they remain stuck in a daily fight to obtain enough food, clean water and other resources just to survive.

“The potential of hundreds of millions of people is being wasted, as their chances remain too closely tied to the previous generation. We have to invest in young children so they are hardwired to succeed,” said Jim Yong Kim, president of World Bank Group.[3]

Investing in children’s education and health, as well as in infrastructure in the form of clean water and sanitation, are “critical to improving mobility,” the World Bank report states.[4]


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