Demographics and Social Factors

Overpopulation and lack of access to birth control methods. Note that population growth slows or even become negative as poverty is reduced due to the demographic transition.

Crime, both white-collar crime and blue-collar crime, including violent gangs and drug cartels.

Historical factors, for example imperialism, colonialism and Post-Communism (at least 50 million children in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union lived in poverty).

Brain drain has cost the African continent over $4 billion in the employment of 150,000 expatriate professionals annually. According to UNDP, "Ethiopia lost 75% of its skilled workforce between 1980 and 1991," which harms the ability of such nations to get out of poverty. Nigeria, Kenya and Ethiopia are believed to be the most affected. There are more Ethiopian doctors in Chicago than there are in Ethiopia. The drain has a damaging effect on the Philippine's health care system. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 nurses emigrated between 1994 and 2006. Over 80% of Jamaicans and Haitians with higher education live abroad. The UNDP estimates that India loses $2 billion a year because of the emigration of computer experts to the U.S. Indian students going abroad for their higher studies costs India a foreign exchange outflow of $10 billion annually.

Matthew effect: the phenomenon, widely observed across advanced welfare states, that the middle classes tend to be the main beneficiaries of social benefits and services, even if these are primarily targeted at the poor.

Cultural causes, which attribute poverty to common patterns of life, learned or shared within a community. For example, Max Weber argued that the Protestant work ethic contributed to economic growth during the industrial revolution.

War, including civil war, genocide, and democide.

Discrimination of various kinds, such as age discrimination, stereotyping, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, caste discrimination. According to the United Way report, 'Poverty by Postal Code' , visible minority families in Canada made up 77.5% of the poor families residing in high poverty neighbourhoods in 2001, double the level in 1981.