Publication: Albania - Urban Growth, Migration and Poverty Reduction : A Poverty Assessment
Loading...
Date
2007-12-03
ISSN
Published
2007-12-03
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This sector report claims that in the three years between 2002 and 2005 alone, almost 235,000 people have moved out of poverty in Albania. Strong economic growth and large inflow of remittances are at the center of this impressive achievement. However, low productivity of predominantly small family farms has put a drag on rural growth prospects. Moreover, Ndihma Ekonomike (NE) program, the means-tested income support program is small in scale, and has a low coverage so that it has had only a modest impact on poverty reduction. As a result of these developments, the poor are mostly rural residents, low skilled (measured as years of schooling completed) and large families. The main conclusion of this report is that as Albania looks ahead it faces the challenges of consolidating and sustaining these improvements in living conditions and narrow the widening rural and urban differences. To tackle these challenges, Albania needs to maintain the high growth path, raise rural productivity and improve the targeting performance of its NE program
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2007. Albania - Urban Growth, Migration and Poverty Reduction : A Poverty Assessment. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7659 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Albania : Social Safety Net Review(Washington, DC, 2004-12-29)In 1989, Albania's rigid political and socioeconomic structure shattered beyond repair. Turbulence soon invaded every domain of life. As the state imploded, so did the state-run economy. This review explores ongoing consequences of this difficult transformation that took place since 1989 and of policy initiatives to mitigate or ameliorate its effects. Albania has been much studied; the review addresses important information gaps. It establishes, from the representative 2002 Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS), which kinds of families receive public income transfers and private income flows in what amounts and from what sources. It estimates the impact that these public and private income flows have in mitigating pre-transfer and post-transfer poverty among households. It does this by type of family and source of income flow, for all Albanian households and for various subsets of them. This review analyzes the relative importance of pensions and social assistance in alleviating poverty among rural households with aged members. This review also documents and links data on expenditures under social programs with data on program beneficiaries for recent years and it identifies current tradeoffs among the multiple objectives of social safety net policies, including those relating to coverage, adequacy, work incentives, equity, and effective government spending. Finally, it suggests options for future development of social safety net policies, including ways to strengthen overall policy linkages and programmatic coordination among social programs.Publication Are There Lessons for Africa from China's Success Against Poverty?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-01)At the outset of China's reform period, the country had a far higher poverty rate than for Africa as a whole. Within five years that was no longer true. This paper tries to explain how China escaped from a situation in which extreme poverty persisted due to failed and unpopular policies. While acknowledging that Africa faces constraints that China did not, and that context matters, two lessons stand out. The first is the importance of productivity growth in smallholder agriculture, which will require both market-based incentives and public support. The second is the role played by strong leadership and a capable public administration at all levels of government.Publication The Impact of Remittances on Rural Poverty and Inequality in China(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-05)Large numbers of agricultural labor moved from the countryside to cities after the economic reforms in China. Migration and remittances play an important role in transforming the structure of rural household income. This paper examines the impact of rural-to-urban migration on rural poverty and inequality in the case of Hubei province using the data of a 2002 household survey. Since remittances are a potential substitute for farm income, the paper presents counterfactual scenarios of what rural income, poverty, and inequality would have been in the absence of migration. The results show that, by providing alternatives to households with lower marginal labor productivity in agriculture, migration leads to an increase in rural income. In contrast to many studies that suggest the increasing share of non-farm income in total income widens inequality, this paper offers support for the hypothesis that migration tends to have egalitarian effects on rural income for three reasons: (i) migration is rational self-selection - farmers with higher agricultural productivities choose to remain in local agricultural production while those with higher expected return in urban non-farm sectors migrate; (ii) poorer households facing binding constraints of land shortage are more likely to migrate; and (iii) the poorest poor benefit disproportionately from remittances.Publication Kosovo : Poverty assessment, Volume 1. Accelerating Inclusive Growth to Reduce Widespread Poverty(Washington, DC, 2007-10-03)Poverty in Kosovo is widespread and has remained persistent in the first half of this decade. The evidence suggests that poverty is higher among those who live in families that are large, have many unemployed members, and have low education levels. The poor are also geographically concentrated in rural areas and a few regions. The main message of this report is that the slow and volatile growth was doubly disadvantageous. The first disadvantage was that it did not enable a significant fraction of the population to earn their way out of poverty. The second disadvantage was that by constraining the government's revenue base, it made it difficult for many families to receive adequate public protection against shocks. Therefore, to improve welfare in the future, the report recommends a focus on generating high and sustainable growth by improving urban services and infrastructure and addressing inequities in the access to secondary and higher education for the poorest population transitioning out of over-reliance on migration, and improving the targeting and expansion of the social assistance program if the revenue base of the government improves over time.Publication India - Living Conditions and Human Development in Uttar Pradesh : A Regional Perspective(Washington, DC, 2010-04)Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in India, has 170 million inhabitants who represent 16.2 percent of India's population. Uttar Pradesh (UP) is classified as one of the 'lagging states of India' for its slow growth, low human development indicators and high concentration of the poor. UP occupies an important position in India because of its size and as a determinant of the country's overall progress. UP has continuously slipped behind India as a whole. Growth or the lack of it has a mirror image in poverty trends. In the 1970s, UP's poverty level was almost at the national average and actually came below the all-India level in 1977-78. Poverty climbed again in 1983. Since the 1990s, slow growth in industry and services has been responsible for UP's lag. The report is organized as: it starts with an assessment of trends in growth, poverty, and inequality presents in chapter one. It notes a slower reduction in poverty in urban areas and in the Western and Eastern regions. Chapter two presents a poverty profile, its non-income dimensions and silent features of the dynamics of poverty. Chapter three presents the underpinnings of growth and reduction in poverty, the report examines patterns of employment, wages and migration patterns in UP. Chapter four focuses on the latent potential of the agricultural sector. Chapters five and six examine trends, challenges and achievements in education and health indicators. Chapter seven addresses access to social assistance programs. Chapter eight presents possible solutions for improving delivery of services.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication The Journey Ahead(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-31)The Journey Ahead: Supporting Successful Migration in Europe and Central Asia provides an in-depth analysis of international migration in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) and the implications for policy making. By identifying challenges and opportunities associated with migration in the region, it aims to inform a more nuanced, evidencebased debate on the costs and benefits of cross-border mobility. Using data-driven insights and new analysis, the report shows that migration has been an engine of prosperity and has helped address some of ECA’s demographic and socioeconomic disparities. Yet, migration’s full economic potential remains untapped. The report identifies multiple barriers keeping migration from achieving its full potential. Crucially, it argues that policies in both origin and destination countries can help maximize the development impacts of migration and effectively manage the economic, social, and political costs. Drawing from a wide range of literature, country experiences, and novel analysis, The Journey Ahead presents actionable policy options to enhance the benefits of migration for destination and origin countries and migrants themselves. Some measures can be taken unilaterally by countries, whereas others require close bilateral or regional coordination. The recommendations are tailored to different types of migration— forced displacement as well as high-skilled and low-skilled economic migration—and from the perspectives of both sending and receiving countries. This report serves as a comprehensive resource for governments, development partners, and other stakeholders throughout Europe and Central Asia, where the richness and diversity of migration experiences provide valuable insights for policy makers in other regions of the world.