Vulnerability to Poverty in Rural Malawi
Considerations of risk and vulnerability are key to understanding the dynamics of poverty in rural Malawi. This study measures vulnerability to consumption shortfalls and analyzes its sources using a two-period panel of 2,789 households, drawn from...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/07/26600681/vulnerability-poverty-rural-malawi http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24850 |
| Summary: | Considerations of risk and vulnerability
are key to understanding the dynamics of poverty in rural
Malawi. This study measures vulnerability to consumption
shortfalls and analyzes its sources using a two-period panel
of 2,789 households, drawn from the 2010 Third Integrated
Household Survey and the 2013 Integrated Household Panel
Survey. The results show that in 2010 two-fifths of all
households had a chance of at least 40 percent of falling
below the poverty line in the future. The results show that
many households in rural Malawi are vulnerable to poverty,
although, as with many other studies of rural areas in other
countries, much of the vulnerability is caused by chronic
poverty. Nonetheless, risks, particularly rainfall and loss
of off-farm employment, are also important in explaining why
poor households remain poor, and why some non-poor
households are more likely to fall into poverty in the next
period. Household wealth and agricultural assets can
protect households from falling into poverty and reduce the
severity of the fall when shocks occur. However, there is
little evidence to suggest that other strategies to reduce
vulnerability are effective. |
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