Zambia Poverty Assessment : Stagnant Poverty and Inequality in a Natural Resource-Based Economy
As in many countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and around the developing world, poverty in Zambia is overwhelmingly a rural phenomenon. In 2010 the moderate poverty rate in rural areas was 74 percent, more than double the urban poverty rate of...
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| Format: | Poverty Assessment |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2014
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/12/18286675/zambia-poverty-assessment-stagnant-poverty-inequality-natural-resource-based-economy http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16792 |
| Summary: | As in many countries throughout
Sub-Saharan Africa and around the developing world, poverty
in Zambia is overwhelmingly a rural phenomenon. In 2010 the
moderate poverty rate in rural areas was 74 percent, more
than double the urban poverty rate of 35 percent. The
economic growth continued throughout the decade, reaching an
impressive annual average of 5.7 percent, and by 2011 the
World Bank recognized Zambia as a middle-income country.
Rising incomes have been densely concentrated among a
relatively small segment of the urban workforce, while
extremely high urban unemployment rates effectively block
the rural labor force from participating in the
country's more dynamic economic sectors, a phenomenon
that is discussed in detail in this analysis. The principal
challenge faced by Zambian policymakers and the
international donor community will be to extend the returns
to growth throughout the country and especially to the rural
poor. Marginal improvements in economic and social
indicators can be accomplished through targeted
interventions in the rural economy, but enduring, structural
income growth and the widespread reduction of poverty will
only be achievable through broad-based employment creation
in the urban industrial and service sectors. This report is
organized as follows: chapter one discusses poverty and
inequality; chapter two gives poverty profile; chapter three
discusses labor market, employment, and wages; and chapter
four focuses on poverty and social spending. |
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