Policy Brief No. 09 of 2007 on Explaining Chronic Poverty in Kenya

Abstract

Chronic poverty can be defined in terms of the duration households are trapped in poverty. The chronically poor are those who are always poor, or usually living below the poverty line. The chronic poor suffer persistent deprivation, which may be multidimensional in nature and severe in terms of depth. In most instances, they may not only lack income but also capabilities such as good health, educational achievement and access to basic social amenities. They have benefited least from any economic growth and development, and for them poverty is simply not about having a low income; it is about multidimensional capability deprivation manifested through hunger, under-nutrition, unsafe drinking water, illiteracy, having no access to health services, social isolation, exploitation, low levels of material assets and social and political marginalization over a long period of time.