Fill in the blank with the suitable article from the options given below.

________ poor are always with us.

the

The correct article to fill in the blank is "the".

The sentence "The poor are always with us" is a statement about poverty as a general condition. It is not referring to a specific group of poor people, so the indefinite articles "a" or "an" are not appropriate. The definite article "the" is used to indicate that we are referring to a group of people that has already been mentioned or is understood from the context. In this case, the group of people is the poor in general.

Here are some other examples of sentences that use "the" to refer to a general condition:

• The sick are always among us.
• The weak are always in need of help.
• The hungry are always looking for food.