Do Demographics Matter for African Child Poverty?
The effect of demographics on poverty measurement based on per capita consumption is well known. The size and composition of the household can affect the well-being of everyone in the household, with respect to total consumption within that househo...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/589781525350527565/Do-demographics-matter-for-African-child-poverty http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29832 |
| Summary: | The effect of demographics on poverty
measurement based on per capita consumption is well known.
The size and composition of the household can affect the
well-being of everyone in the household, with respect to
total consumption within that household. Failure to address
this issue may often lead to an underestimation or
overestimation of poverty, especially for children. Many
studies have tried to address the issue, using the generic
approach of equivalence scales. However, the choice of scale
is controversial and may lead to comparability problems
between countries because of the different demographic
structures and choice of the pivot household for
establishing the per capita poverty line. Based on the World
Bank's African poverty database, this study estimates
poverty rates for African children using the new
international poverty line of $1.90 a day defined in terms
of 2011 purchasing power parity. The equivalence scales
approach (Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health
Organization) is used with the adjustment suggested by
Deaton after the identification of the pivot household,
which is defined as the household whose per capita
consumption is around the international poverty line. This
study shows that taking account of demographics results in
downward adjustments of child poverty, adult poverty, and
child-adult poverty gaps. Moreover, breakdowns by country
show that poverty may vary significantly depending on
demographics, which may cause some reranking when comparing
poverty between African countries. Finally, sensitivity
analyses reveal that child poverty is not sensitive to the
child discount factor, unlike adult poverty, but, overall,
taking account of demographics is helpful for better
identifying poor children. |
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