A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition

The share of the world’s population living on less than $1.90 a day has been cut by more than half since 2000. The pace of progress has slowed in recent years, however, and is likely to regress with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Advancements...

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Main Authors: Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria, Bhatt, Antra, Azcona, Ginette, Yoo, Jayne, Beegle, Kathleen
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/776061614181162133/A-Global-View-of-Poverty-Gender-and-Household-Composition
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35183
id okr-10986-35183
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-351832022-09-20T00:09:20Z A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria Bhatt, Antra Azcona, Ginette Yoo, Jayne Beegle, Kathleen POVERTY GENDER HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION The share of the world’s population living on less than $1.90 a day has been cut by more than half since 2000. The pace of progress has slowed in recent years, however, and is likely to regress with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Advancements toward achieving the goal of reducing poverty can be informed by more in-depth examination of the prevailing poverty profile across countries. This paper uses data from 91 countries to profile the poor through a focus on the demographic composition of households. It contributes to a growing body of literature on the profile of the poor based on household demographics, utilizing harmonized cross-country data. Three key findings related to household demographics and the profile of the poor emerge. First, globally, the share of young girls who reside in poor households is almost 1 percentage point larger than the corresponding share of boys, principally driven by results from India. In most other countries, girls and boys (who generally reside with adults) are equally likely to reside in poor households. Second, along the life cycle, the next big difference in poverty rates by sex globally sits among household members ages 25-34, with South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa driving these results. Third, analysis demonstrates that differences in household composition between women and men, including women’s greater likelihood to be living in households with young children, are behind the observed gap in poverty rates by sex. 2021-02-25T15:04:36Z 2021-02-25T15:04:36Z 2021-02 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/776061614181162133/A-Global-View-of-Poverty-Gender-and-Household-Composition http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35183 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9553 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic POVERTY
GENDER
HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION
spellingShingle POVERTY
GENDER
HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION
Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria
Bhatt, Antra
Azcona, Ginette
Yoo, Jayne
Beegle, Kathleen
A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition
geographic_facet Africa
South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 9553
description The share of the world’s population living on less than $1.90 a day has been cut by more than half since 2000. The pace of progress has slowed in recent years, however, and is likely to regress with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Advancements toward achieving the goal of reducing poverty can be informed by more in-depth examination of the prevailing poverty profile across countries. This paper uses data from 91 countries to profile the poor through a focus on the demographic composition of households. It contributes to a growing body of literature on the profile of the poor based on household demographics, utilizing harmonized cross-country data. Three key findings related to household demographics and the profile of the poor emerge. First, globally, the share of young girls who reside in poor households is almost 1 percentage point larger than the corresponding share of boys, principally driven by results from India. In most other countries, girls and boys (who generally reside with adults) are equally likely to reside in poor households. Second, along the life cycle, the next big difference in poverty rates by sex globally sits among household members ages 25-34, with South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa driving these results. Third, analysis demonstrates that differences in household composition between women and men, including women’s greater likelihood to be living in households with young children, are behind the observed gap in poverty rates by sex.
format Working Paper
author Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria
Bhatt, Antra
Azcona, Ginette
Yoo, Jayne
Beegle, Kathleen
author_facet Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria
Bhatt, Antra
Azcona, Ginette
Yoo, Jayne
Beegle, Kathleen
author_sort Munoz Boudet, Ana Maria
title A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition
title_short A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition
title_full A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition
title_fullStr A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition
title_full_unstemmed A Global View of Poverty, Gender, and Household Composition
title_sort global view of poverty, gender, and household composition
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2021
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/776061614181162133/A-Global-View-of-Poverty-Gender-and-Household-Composition
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35183
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