An estimated 443 million people worldwide suffer chronic poverty i.e. poverty which lasts many years, a lifetime or generations. Looking at the dynamics of poverty – how people’s poverty status changes with time - reveals the existence of multi-dimensional poverty traps relating to insecurity, poor work opportunities, location, social discrimination and limited citizenship .  Policies and strategies to break these traps are discussed, as is the broader goal of developing a state-citizen “social compact” around justice and poverty.