Other Poverty Study
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Publication
Poverty and Food Security in Brazil during the Pandemic
(Washington, DC, 2022-04)In contrast with the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean, Brazil’s poverty rate is estimated to have decreased between 2019 and 2020 to 13.1 percent. Auxílio Emergencial (AE), a large emergency cash transfer program launched in April 2020, is believed to be the main driver of that decrease, because it more than offset economic losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, food insecurity (FI) estimates showed an opposite trend: Severe and moderate FI went up in 2020. This apparent paradox can be mostly explained by the way in which poverty and FI are measured: Measurements of poverty are based on annualized income estimates, while those of FI are based on the occurrence of an event, whereby the sudden, uncompensated loss of a job or reduction of benefits (such as AE) can turn into the loss of a household’s ability to feed itself in the short term. In 2021, both poverty and FI may have increased. Simulations suggest that poverty increased in 2021 to 18.7 percent. Meanwhile, about 18 percent of households reported running out of food in the past 30 days owing to a lack of resources, twice the pre-pandemic rate. Overall and food inflation, a sluggish labor market recovery with falling real wages, and the significant scaling down of the AE program are all factors in this trend. The war in Ukraine has pushed inflationary expectations upward. Given the projected 0.7 percent gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2022, labor incomes are not expected to boost households’ consumption levels significantly. Coupled with the complete elimination of AE, poverty and FI may further deteriorate in 2022. -
Publication
Cox's Bazar: Inclusive Growth Diagnostic
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-01-14)The district of Cox’s Bazar, in southeastern Bangladesh, is an instructive context to understand how long-standing and newer growth opportunities and constraints manifest at the local level, remote from Bangladesh’s major growth poles of Dhaka and Chittagong. Potentially exacerbating Cox’s Bazar’s pre-existing development challenges, the district is hosting a large influx of displaced Myanmar nationals (Rohingya). More than 884,000 people have crossed into Bangladesh from Myanmar, the vast majority since August 2017, more than doubling the population living in the Cox’s Bazar upazilas of Teknaf and Ukhia, which had higher poverty rates than the rest of the district prior to the arrival of Rohingya. -
Publication
A Better Future for All Nigerians: Nigeria Poverty Assessment 2022
(Washington, DC, 2022)This poverty assessment lays out the broad development challenges that Nigeria faces, which constrain the country’s poverty reduction. The discussion provides the backdrop for the detailed analysis presented in later parts of the report. First, the introductory section links Nigeria’s macroeconomic performance with its prospects for poverty reduction, emphasizing that the country may be struggling to stimulate inclusive growth: that is, growth that would benefit Nigerians across the welfare distribution. Second, the section examines the proliferating climate and conflict shocks that Nigeria faces, which further complicate poverty reduction. Third, the section describes how the “double shock” of COVID-19 has affected Nigeria, through both health and economic impacts and discusses the recent acceleration in inflation. Finally, this introduction considers Nigeria’s data landscape, explaining how new microdata offer vital insights into the country’s pathways out of poverty. -
Publication
COVID-19 in Nigeria: Frontline Data and Pathways for Policy
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11)The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and its economic and social effects on households have created an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis and protect the welfare of Nigerian society. To monitor how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the economy and people of Nigeria and to inform policy interventions and responses, the National Bureau of Statistics with technical support from the World Bank implemented the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS) from April 2020 to April 2021. This report draws on NLPS and other relevant data to analyze COVID-19 impacts in Nigeria’s human capital, livelihoods and welfare. It also looks ahead to the broad challenges of building back better in Nigeria and summarizes priorities for policymaking and implementation. -
Publication
Building an Equitable Society in Colombia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-26)Colombia’s high level of inequality is a core constraint to economic growth and social progress. The country has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world, the second highest among 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and the highest among all OECD countries. The disparities in income across adults grow from gaps that open early in life in opportunities for high-quality childhood development, education, and health care services. Inequality in access to good jobs further amplifies these gaps, making Colombia among the countries where inequalities are the most persistent across generations. Longstanding inequality across regions overlaps with the large gaps in welfare between Afro-descendants and indigenous Colombians and the rest of the population. The COVID-19 pandemic has further amplified disparities and threatens to have prolonged negative effects, but this is just one of many potential extreme shocks, including climate change, related disruptions, that could substantially widen the inequality gaps. Current tax and transfer policies at best have only a modest positive impact on these imbalances, so there is clearly ample potential to improve the redistributive role of fiscal policy in Colombia. Policy reforms across many areas could help to chart a more equitable future for the country. -
Publication
Poverty and Gender in Malawi: A Background Paper for the 2021 Malawi Poverty Assessment
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-09-23)The paper, which serves as a gender background paper for the 2021 Malawi Poverty Assessment, is structured as follows. It first presents the data and empirical strategy. Chapter two presents poverty data and discusses the intersection of poverty and gender. Poverty by household composition is essential for understanding gendered differences in poverty. From there, chapter three explores gender disparities in economic opportunities, following the analytical framework cited earlier. The authors will then move to potential drivers of economic outcomes: endowments (chapter four) and agency (chapter five). The last section offers conclusions. -
Publication
The Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 on Households in Cambodia, Report No. 5: Results from the High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households Round 5 (1-21 March 2021)
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06)The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its effects on households create an urgent need for timely data and evidence to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis on the Cambodian people, especially the poor and most vulnerable. To monitor the evolving socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and inform policy responses and interventions, the World Bank designed and conducted a nationally representative High-Frequency Phone Survey (HFPS) of households in Cambodia. The survey covers important and relevant topics, including knowledge of COVID-19 and adoption of preventative behaviors, economic activity and income sources, access to basic goods and services, exposure to shocks and coping mechanisms, and access to social assistance. The survey will track the same households over 10 months, with selected respondents - typically the household head - completing interviews every 8 weeks. Monitoring the well-being of households over time will improve understanding of the effects of, and household responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in near-real time. This brief summarizes the findings of Round 5 (R5) of the HFPS. The information presented is based on a sample of 1,688 households, of which 379 were drawn from the nationally representative Living Standards Measurement Study Plus (LSMS+) survey and 1,309 from the list of beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer program for pregnant women and children under 2 with an IDPoor equity card (IDPoor sample). IDPoor is Cambodia's national poverty identification program and official targeting mechanism for programs that support the poor. Unless otherwise noted, the results presented are primarily drawn from the LSMS+ sample. To trace the evolution of key indicators, the results of Round 5 (R5) implemented in March 2021 are compared against results of Round 4 (R4) implemented in December 2020–January 2021, Round 3 (R3) implemented October–November 2020, Round 2 (R2) implemented August–September 2020, and Round 1 (R1) implemented May–June 2020. -
Publication
Monitoring the Socio-Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Djiboutian and Refugee Households in Djibouti: Results from the Third Wave of Survey
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05-27)The third round of data collection on monitoring of socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic in Djibouti followed urban national households based on two previous waves of data collection as well as a replacement sub-sample. This round also includes a refugee sub-sample, covering urban refugees and those based in refugee villages. Economic recovery in Djibouti continues to follow a positive trend. Breadwinners from Djiboutian households continue to come back to work. Only 4 percent of those working before the pandemic were not working at the time of the survey. Even when counting those who were not working before the pandemic, 83 percent of all national households' breadwinners are now working – continuing strong trends from waves 1 and 2. Nationals with waged work grew from 22 to 76 percent in that time, and only 9 percent of those currently working report working less than usual. Djiboutian workers are also working more – but for less pay. Only one in five Djiboutian breadwinners are working less than they were before the pandemic or not at all. However, half of those who worked less than usual received no pay in wave 3 – 53 percent up from 35 percent in wave 2, and fewer received partial payment compared to the previous waves. Poor households were more likely to have received no pay for work performed. Refugees based in refugee villages face worse employment conditions than those living in urban areas or urban nationals. They were less likely to be employed prior to COVID-19, more likely to lose their job during pandemic, and do not exhibit similar signs of recovery. Around 68 percent of urban refugee breadwinners are currently working and 7 percent who worked before the pandemic are currently not working. In comparison, less than half (49 percent) of refugee breadwinners based in refugee villages are currently working, and 16 percent are no longer working relative to pre-COVID-19. A quarter of urban refugees and around 35 percent of refugees in refugee villages worked neither now nor before the pandemic, and nearly a third (29 percent) of the latter who are working report working less than usual. In addition, refugee breadwinners’ concentration in the informal sector (87 percent) highlights the precarity of their livelihood. -
Publication
Monitoring Social and Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Refugees in Uganda: Results from the High-Frequency Phone - Third Round
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05-18)The High-Frequency Phone Survey for refugees in Uganda (URHFPS) tracked the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis on refugees throughout three rounds. The World Bank (WB) in collaboration with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) launched and conducted the URHFPS. The URHFPS tracked the impacts of the pandemic between October 2020 and March 2021. Data collection for the first round of the URHFPS took place between October 22 – November 25, 2020, the second round took place between December 5-24, 2020, and the final and third round was conducted between February 8-March 14, 2021. This brief discusses the results from the third round. Where possible and appropriate, the results are compared across the three rounds and also benchmarked against Ugandans by using the national High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19 (UHFPS). Detailed results for the first round are available in Atamanov et al. (2021a) and for the second round in Atamanov et al. (2021b) -
Publication
LSMS+ Program in Sub-Saharan Africa: Findings from Individual-Level Data Collection on Labor and Asset Ownership
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05-05)Established in 2016, the World Bank living standards measurement study - plus (LSMS+) program works to enhance the availability and quality of intra-household, self-reported, individual-disaggregated survey data collected in low- and middle-income countries on key dimensions of men’s and women’s economic opportunities and welfare. This report presents findings on gender differences in labor market outcomes and ownership of physical and financial assets in Sub-Saharan Africa, based on the national surveys that have been implemented by the respective national statistical offices (NSOs) in Ethiopia, Malawi, and Tanzania over the period 2016-2020, with support from the LSMS+ program.