Poverty tends to be inherited by the next generation; this is known as what?

• A. Poverty trap
• B. Relative poverty
• C. Absolute poverty
• D. Cycle of poverty

Answer: (D)

Intergenerational transmission of poverty is described as the cycle of poverty. It explains how children born into poverty tend to grow up with fewer opportunities—less access to quality education, healthcare, housing, and social networks—which lowers their chances of escaping poverty as adults, creating a repeating pattern across generations. The other terms refer to different ideas: relative poverty compares someone’s situation with others in society, absolute poverty means a lack of basic necessities, and a poverty trap is a broader idea about mechanisms that keep people poor, but the specific phrase for poverty passing from one generation to the next is the cycle of poverty.