Poverty as a Threat to Economic and Social Security: A Structured Review of Evidence and Mechanisms

Background. Poverty is usually treated as a development problem affecting the poor themselves. A growing body of evidence suggests it is also a systemic risk to the economic and social security of whole societies, including those far from the poverty line. Objective. This article examines how poverty undermines economic security (stable incomes, resilient households, fiscal and growth capacity) and social security (health, cohesion, political stability and access to protection), and what the evidence says about the strength of those links. Methods. A structured narrative review was conducted of recent official poverty statistics (principally the World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform releases through September 2026) and of peer-reviewed and institutional research on poverty, inequality, vulnerability, conflict and social protection. Findings were organized under a two-domain analytical framework and synthesized thematically. Results. About 824 million people, roughly one in ten worldwide, lived on less than $3.00 a day in 2024, yet progress has slowed markedly and extreme poverty is increasingly concentrated in fragile, conflict-affected and Sub-Saharan African settings. Evidence links poverty to lower human-capital accumulation, high exposure to uninsured shocks, weaker fiscal bases, poorer health, intergenerational immobility and a higher risk of conflict. These effects reinforce one another through feedback loops. Social protection, especially cash transfers, shows consistent benefits for household welfare. Conclusions. Poverty functions as a threat multiplier: it amplifies the damage of economic, climate and political shocks and weakens the institutions needed to absorb them. Treating poverty reduction as a security investment, and not only as a moral or welfare objective, strengthens the case for universal social protection, shock-responsive systems and targeted action in fragile states.