Several structuralist and neo-Schumpeterian studies highlight the importance of production structure in countries’ economic growth and the reduction of inequalities; traditional analyses of poverty focus on its micro and macro determinants. The primary innovation presented herein is the combined analysis of these lines of research. The aim is to use a logit model to analyse the role of the production structure and of the personal and social characteristics of heads of household in Brazil in determining the probability of poverty between 2012 and 2022. The main findings indicate that the attributes that reduce the probability of poverty are main employment activity in the modern sector, residence in an urban area, formal employment, high level of education, male gender and the presence of a retiree or pensioner in the household.