The flow charts illustrate the vicious cycles of poverty at the institutional and individual levels.
Overall, in both circles, there are five cyclic factors. While the starting cyclic factor in the institutional poverty cycle is ‘Lack of critical mass for services and infrastructure’, the starting factor in the individual poverty cycle is ‘Low income, low assets, and low education’.
Lack of critical mass for services and infrastructure begins the vicious circle of poverty at the institutional level. Then it causes a low rate of business creation, which results in fewer jobs. As a result, workers migrate to somewhere else, and this results in low population density. Low population density creates a lack of critical mass for services, starting the cycle over.
At the individual level, low income, assets, and education start the cycle. This means that there is a lack of capital and needed skills. As a result, an individual will have a lower capacity to generate income, resulting in low security against economic and health risks. In consequence, this puts an individual in debt, meaning that there is a further loss of income. Then this restarts the cycle of poverty at the individual level.