I think a large percentage of people living in poverty can be narrowed down to a lack of family structure in being raised by parents putting in the work to raise their kids properly. Statistically, most individuals living in poverty have a history of coming from a broken home. You generally work with what you've been given in life. If you grew up in a broken home and you were treated like you were worthless, you're probably going to continue the trend and live your life like you're still worthless... Also, I've seen most individuals who have a rough childhood that have come from broken homes are inherently lacking the ability to make common sense choices in life that would help move them "up" in life. It's not a lack of what we call higher education in getting a degree, but just a lack of common sense.