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Summary: Fourteen percent of households in 36 villages of three districts in Andhra Pradesh, India, escaped from poverty over the past 25 years, but another 12% of these 5536 households fell into poverty during the same time. Escaping poverty and falling into poverty are responsive, respectively, to different sets of factors. Two different sets of poverty policies will be required in future: one set to assist escape, and another set to prevent descent. While ill health and high healthcare costs, social and customary expenses, high-interest private debt, and drought are associated most often with falling into poverty, diversification of income sources and land improvement are most closely related with escape. Some other factors, including industrial growth and education, have had only very slight and indirect effects on poverty in these villages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]