Title: How Do the Poor Get Trapped in Poverty? | Compassion
Headings: How Do the Poor Get Trapped in Poverty?
How Do the Poor Get Trapped in Poverty?
Unless the cycle is broken, poverty can be passed down from generation to generation. These are some of the common factors that can trap a family in this vicious cycle. But there’s good news. More than 1.8 million children in our Child Sponsorship Program are being supported and empowered to live a life free from poverty.
15 Nov, 2018
What factors keep a family trapped in poverty in the developing world?
1. Missing out on a quality education
2. Working hard but earning little
3. Less access to food and safe water
4. Increased vulnerability to sickness and disease
5. Limited access to medical care
6. More dependents
7. Increased disaster risk in the developing world
How Compassion’s Child Sponsorship Program Helps to Break the Poverty Cycle
1. Education
2. Health
3. Nutrition and safe water
4. Skills and training
5. Mentoring and encouragement
6. Opportunity to hear the gospel
Meet Grace, a Compassion graduate released from poverty

Content: Many children need to leave school early to begin working to help contribute to their family’s income. For children who do attend school, more than one-third graduate primary school without learning how to read and write, UNICEF reports. This can be due to overcrowded classrooms, a lack of school resources, too few teachers, and frequent absences due to sickness. Dropping out of school to work can trap children into a cycle of low-paying jobs, while leaving school without the basic foundations can do the same. 2. Working hard but earning little
In developing countries, steady wage employment is the exception, not the norm. Demand for jobs with a reliable income far exceeds their availability. A lack of employment opportunities means many parents living in poverty turn to self-employment. But because there are few opportunities for them to earn enough to escape poverty, they are working hard but earning little. These families are known as “the working poor”, where least one member is working but the household still lives on less than $2 per person per day.