Statistically, what are the biggest predictors of living in poverty?

Question

Those which would be most applicable to industrialized nations. I think a couple might be never finishing high school, or having a child before a certain age, but I don't know about others or whether there are detailed statistics.

Answer 1

Having poor parents, growing up poor
being a single mother

But really it can all be seen to stem from growing up poor- if you grow up poor you are more likely to go to crappy schools, with crappy teachers and live in a crappy neighborhood and be forced to deal with crime and drugs and violence. You're less likely to have great role models to look up to. Your parents won't have the money to send you to a great college, you're more likely to have kids at a younger age or have to take a low paying job to help support your family...

eh.. you get the jist... when I unpack my soc books I can actually give you a list - so check back in a bit if you're really interested

Answer 2

poverty could be hereditary as in if grandparents and parents were on welfare so will the child of that family, it's a circle they just can't seem to break.

sometimes drugs (crack, marajuana, alcohol) causes divorce and poverty, gangs perpetuate poverty, divorce causes poverty (especially if children are involved), continuing loss of employment (as in "employment at will" states), maybe something has happened in their family like a bad accident or illness or birth defect of a child, abuse or rape can cause a family to live in poverty, growing up and living in a downtrodden area of the city where there is no way out unless they get help, sometimes there are earthquakes or hurricanes or some unpredictable climate happening that would cause people to lose everything and not recover, etc.

Answer 3

The greatest predictor of poverty, is the socio-economic status of your parents. If your parents were poor, you will be poor.

While people can change their social status it is not very common. The UK, for example has one of the lowest levels of socio-economic status change in the world.

I think though you won't more information that just poverty makes poverty.

Education is one of the best ways to increase your socio-economic status. Though once again, if your parents have a high IQ, then you will have a high IQ.

Let's face it, if your parents are fat, you will be fat.

This is more than genetics, though genetics will come into play to determine intelligence and academic achievement, the social environment has a bigger impact.

Other issues that are predictors are where you live. But if you live in a poor area, it is because you are poor. Poor areas tend to have less factories, shops and economic development, so there is less chance to change your socio-economic status.

Answer 4

An estimated 2.4 billion people live with a wage of only two dollars a day or less.

An estimated 1.3 billion people live with a wage of only one dollar a day or less.

At least 4.2 billion people are living in poverty but this estimate may even be larger estimating around 4.8 billion all together. What is known is that over 50% of the world's population is living in poverty and are often in some sort of despair or dilemma that is in relation to poverty.

Poverty is often linked with hunger, war, genocide, disease, corruption, dictatorships, malnutrition, water shortage or drought, and other multiple destructive affects that not only bring about poverty but death.

People in poverty are often mistaken as being poor but the enormous disparity between those who are in poverty and those who are defined as being poor, middle class, or rich is enough to show otherwise.

It is terrifying to see such a wide gap within a world population of about 6.5 billion people in not just economic status but in all different states of life. It is not very often evidence like this gap is found, in fact, it is rare to find such evidence in most observations done within most analysis. Often, such proof is thrown out and retested but the test involving poverty is consist in all the categories and the categories are who, what, when, where, how, and why. The purpose of pointing this out is to show how real poverty is and how greatly it affects the world.

Now, people who are categorized as being poor are at greatest risk of feeling the affects of those in poverty or even possibly going into poverty themselves. The reason for this is varying from place to place for example; in America there should be no one in poverty but there are those in poverty and that must be explained from region to region, city to city, county to county, and etc. To better explain why someone who is poor and may go into poverty can be explained by the question like why is this person poor. That alone could link them to personal choices from drugs to abandonment at a young age. The other is how poverty directly affects those who are poor and that is just as complicated but one example is migrates trying to get away from genocide and end up going into another country. That alone will affect the poor in the country migrates enter and the affect ranges from housing, food, all the way to jobs.

Answer 5

Actually the thing that most often predicts poverty on a national scale is how free the country's government is. The freer the people, the richer. (which is why communism doesn't work)

Answer 6

In the first world, the single largest factor that causes poverty is
the non-possession of fully-owned property, i.e. living in an apartment,
or having a mortgage.

Answer 7

Having parents who live in poverty. There is much less class movement than we believe.

Answer 8

Being poor would be a pretty good predictor.
Not having a job would be another.
Using drugs would definately indicate a trip to the ghettos.
Prostitution would be another
:O)

Answer 9

Not having a 'sugar daddy'!!

Answer 10

UNFORTUNATELY - race, sex, education.