62 Examples of Poverty Issues

John Spacey, updated on April 11, 2024

Poverty is the state of having low income and wealth such that an individual, household or community lack the resources they need. This isn't always visible with groups such as the working poor who may maintain appearances but struggle in ways that put them at a disadvantage to others in areas such as health, security, safety, wellness and the ability to live a fulfilling and cultured life. The following are issues related to poverty.

Access to childcare	Access to education
Access to elder care	Access to electricity, heating and cooling
Access to financial services and credit	Access to legal support and representation
Access to safe public spaces	Access to sufficient clothing and professional attire for work or school
Bullying	Child labor
Crime rates	Disabilities and lack of accessible environments
Discrimination	Disease
Evictions	Excessive debt and debt bondage
Exploitation	Exploitative labor practices
Exposure to pollution and environmental injustice	Financial instability
Food insecurity	Homelessness
Hunger	Illiteracy
Immigration status issues	Inability to pay fines resulting in jail time
Inadequate housing	Inadequate mental healthcare
Inadequate nutrition	Inadequate social protection
Inadequate wages	Insufficient healthcare
Lack of childhood enrichment activities	Lack of clean water
Lack of communication and information tools	Lack of cultural participation
Lack of dental care	Lack of digital access
Lack of exercise and recreation	Lack of identification and birth registration
Lack of political participation	Lack of public services and support
Lack of social mobility	Lack of social status and cultural capital
Lack of vision care	Lack of voice
Legal barriers	Limited access to places to play
Limited resources	Malnutrition
No access to nature	Powerlessness
Sanitation issues	Social exclusion
Substance abuse and addiction	Transportation issues
Unemployment	Unsafe living conditions
Unsafe working conditions	Vulnerability to crime
Vulnerability to disasters	Vulnerability to social unrest and political instability

Summary

Poverty is a lack of resources and income that can create a large number of issues related to fulfilling basic needs. People experiencing poverty may also face discrimination, bullying and social exclusion.

Discussion

Poverty is described as a trap whereby once you fall into poverty it can be difficult to ever escape it without extensive support. This may occur across many generations of a family or community. The poverty trap is due to the enormous difficulties that poverty creates whereby things that others take for granted such as getting to work or paying a fine can be big problems for those in poverty. These issues that would be easy to solve with resources can then become bigger and bigger problems that spiral out of control.

Poverty can actually be expensive whereby a lack of resources can prevent you from doing things the most efficient way. For example, a lack of transportation that forces you to buy food from shops that are close to you that may be more expensive than larger grocery stores further away. Likewise, poverty can have long term costs such as being forced to less healthy food options that create long term health, disability and unemployment costs.

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