What is chronic poverty?

The Definition of Chronic Poverty

The distinguishing feature of chronic poverty is extended duration in absolute poverty. Chronically poor people always, or usually, live below a poverty line, which is normally defined in terms of money but could also be defined in terms of wider or subjecive aspects of deprivation. The chronically poor differ from the transitorily poor, in which people move in and out of poverty or only occasionally fall below the poverty line.

How many chronically poor are there

In the Second Chronic Poverty Report it is estimated that there are between 320 and 445 million people who live trapped in chronic poverty.

These are people who will remain poor for much or all of their lives and whose children are likely to inherit their poverty. They suffer multiple deprivations, including hunger, under-nutrition, illiteracy, lack of access to safe drinking water and basic health services, social discrimination, physical insecurity and political exclusion. Many will die prematurely of easily preventable deaths. In many contexts women and girls are most likely to experience lifeling poverty.

The poverty traps

Research by CPRC has identified five main traps that underpin chronic poverty. These are:

• Insecurity – the chronically poor typically face insecure environments and have few assets or entitlements to cope with shocks and stresses.
• Limited citizenship – chronically poor people have no meaningful political voice and lack effective political representation.
• Spatial disadvantage – remoteness, political exclusion and weak economic integration can all contribute to poverty traps within a country.
• Social discrimination – social relations (of power, patronage, competition, collaboration and support) can trap people in expotative relationships or deny them access to public and private goods and services.
• Poor work opportunities – where there is limited economic growth or growth is concentrated in enclaves, work opportunities are very limited and people can be exploited. Such work permits day-to-day survival but does not permit asset accumulation and children’s education.