What Is the Cycle of Poverty, and How Is GFA Involved?

Answering the question, “What is the cycle of poverty?” may seem simple enough; the concept is somewhat intuitive and can be understood with relative ease. Breaking the cycle is another matter entirely. Millions of people around the world labor without hope, despairing that any change will ever come to their lives.

Globally, about 10 percent of the population—over 700 million people—fall below the international poverty line of living on $2.15 a day. While this number had been decreasing, the recent global pandemic has slowed progress. Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have both suffered immensely from this setback, and poverty’s grip has tightened in those areas.[1]

This information is regularly discussed, but what is the poverty cycle? The poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty, is a term used to describe the fact that poor families tend to stay poor for generations. If a child’s grandparents were poor and their parents are poor, the odds are strong that they will be poor as well.[2] The reasons poverty tends to be passed down like this are multifaceted and connected.

Living in poverty means there are many forces stacked against a person trying to get ahead. There is less access to education in impoverished areas, meaning fewer opportunities to secure higher-paying jobs in the future. Even if education is available, it can cost too much, and many families rely on children contributing income alongside their parents to survive and so would not be able to send them to school. People living in the poorest parts of the world may not have access to clean water or proper shelter, leaving them constantly susceptible to disease, which takes them out of school or work and costs money to treat. Not having enough food makes it harder to focus on school or complete a full day’s work, preventing a person from gaining an education or earning money and leaving them stuck in poverty. These factors, and many more, make it nearly impossible to escape poverty without a drastic change of circumstances.

With such a vicious circle, it is only natural to wonder how to break the cycle of poverty. Those stuck inside usually can’t pull themselves out; they need external help to forge a new path. Organizations like GFA World work to provide ways out of poverty. Our various programs seek to address what is the cycle of poverty, lift people out and give them hope for a better future, one that is unencumbered by the generational curse of poverty. And all this done in the name of Jesus Christ.


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