People living in poverty have few options about how they will take care of themselves. Stealing food and necessities to support a family is where some people begin. However, this creates an environment where crime and violence escalates. As crime and violence become more common and accepted, gangs may form. In order to create a livable income, gangs often enter the global drug trade, bringing illegal drugs and the dangers associated with them into their cities.
Communities living in poverty have less access to education than people living in comfort. Schools in poorer cities often have less funding than they require to serve their students. Even in the United States, schools in poor communities struggle to provide their students with books and supplies. Students that have difficulty learning due to problems at home caused by poverty often drop out before graduation. This creates a new generation of uneducated, difficult to employ people.
Poverty effects environments around the world. In Nepal, massive deforestation occurred when the country attempted to incur income from its natural resources. Now the deforested land creates destructive floods and danger for the local people living in poverty. Many countries have destroyed their forests and moved large portions of land in digging for minerals. As governments dig for oil to prevent economic problems, accidents often allow oil to escape into the ocean and destroy life.
Poverty creates unhealthy people around the globe. People that are too poor to afford regular doctor and dental checkups are more likely to develop life-threatening illnesses than people with the money for health care. Children and adults both die from curable illnesses because they live in poverty. Illnesses that are usually rare can become more common as they spread among people too poor to vaccinate themselves or purchase the medicine to cure it.