Empirical Investigation of Household Poverty Persistence and Intergenerational Transmission in South East Nigeria

Intergenerational transmission of poverty, the process by which household poverty in one generation predicts poverty in the next, has important policy implications for breaking the cycle of disadvantage, and empirical characterisation of this mechanism in South East Nigeria fills an important gap. This study empirically investigated poverty persistence and intergenerational transmission using retrospective household data from 1,200 households in Anambra, Enugu, and Imo States, South East Nigeria. A household survey collected data on current household welfare, parents' educational attainment and occupation (reported retrospectively by current household heads), and parental asset ownership as a childhood wealth proxy. Logistic regression and Markov chain transition probability analysis were applied. The intergenerational poverty persistence rate was 58.4 percent, meaning that 58.4 percent of households whose head reported a poor childhood background were currently poor. Education of the household head was the dominant pathway for upward mobility: each additional year of parental education reduced current poverty odds by 12.3 percent (p < 0.001). Maternal education showed a stronger intergenerational poverty transmission pathway than paternal education, consistent with child human capital investment theories. Urban-born household heads showed 53 percent lower poverty persistence. The study fills an empirical gap in South East intergenerational mobility research and recommends prioritising universal female education as the highest-return policy for breaking the intergenerational poverty cycle. Keywords: intergenerational poverty, poverty persistence, South East Nigeria, panel mobility, household welfare