Possessions can be looted or destroyed and vital public services disrupted. Poor families become even more vulnerable when women are left alone to care for households and children cannot continue their education.

But poverty is also one of the driving forces behind conflict. While ethnic tensions and political feuds can lead to civil war, economic conditions can play an even bigger role. Low economic growth, low average incomes and high dependence on primary exports can be major causes of conflict. When a country's average income doubles, the likelihood of civil war is cut by half. And the risk for conflict falls in direct proportion to increases in a country's growth rate.