Ethiopia has been plagued by pervasive poverty for centuries. Especially, the rural people are the mostrnaffected basically because of complex, multi-dimensional, and dynamic forces. Factors responsible forrnthe persistence of rural poverty are linked to demographic, social, economic, physical, and politicalrnconditions .. However, the major objective of the study lies at exploring the causation that runs fromrndemographic factors to poverty outcomes in rural North Shewa.rnData are obtained from two sources: the 1999/00 HICE Survey undertaken by CSA and a smallrnqualitative assessment (Focus group discussion and in-depth interview with key informants) in one ofrnthe Wedredas of North Shewa in March, 2003.rnThe analysis shows that the per capita income for rural North Shewa is Birr. 1256 (US$ 165.10),rnwhich is less than half of the international poverty line set by the World Bank, US $370. Based onrnabsolute poverty line of Birr 1075.03per adult equivalent, 40 per cent of the study population arernidentified as poor while the poor are on the average 11.3 per cent short of fulfilling the minimumrnexpenditure.rnThe informants in the qualitative assessment disclosed that inequality among rural peasants isrnbecoming invisible and all are making a swift i:zove to the "poor" category. They further suggestedrnthat their coping strategies are exhausted, intra-family conflicts are on rise, social cohesion in therncommunity is weakening, insecurity is pervasive and they foresee no window of hope. According to therninformants, the major causes of poverty are shortage of rainfall, erratic rainfall, population pressurern(shortage of land and other resources), and deterioration of the productivity of land.rnThe results obtained by the qualitative and quantitative analyses with regard to the correlates ofrnpoverty is nearly similar. For multivariate analysis, probit model and multiple regression procedurernare used to regress poverty per se and standard of living (the depth of poverty), respectively.rnGenerally, household characteristics that trigger entry into the poverty trap comprise: largerrnhousehold size, mid-span of the age of the household head, elderly dominated composition, youngdominatedrncomposition, larger number of women, and larger number of males accompanied byrndisproportionately smaller number of adult females ..rnThe pattern of the prevalence of poverty indicates that there is a threat to the effort to reduce infantrnand child mortality and achieve universal education. At the same time, poverty is noted to hard hit thernhouseholds with labour force and wisdom which implies opportunities to come out of poverty if theyrnare provided with capital and natural resources. The result also revealed that thee inequality amongrnelderly is quite large. From the results, it is argued that no matter how the demographic window mayrnbe opeed, it may not be possible to abate poverty unless accompanied by large-scale employmentrnopportunities out side the agriculture sector.