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: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/589781525350527565/Do-demographics-matter-for-African-child-poverty http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29832 |
| id |
okr-10986-29832 |
|---|---|
| recordtype |
oai_dc |
| spelling |
okr-10986-298322021-06-08T14:42:46Z Do Demographics Matter for African Child Poverty? Batana, Yele M. Cockburn, John POVERTY MEASUREMENT DEMOGRAPHICS CHILD POVERTY HOUSEHOLD SIZE EQUIVALENCE SCALES POVERTY RATE PURCHASING POWER PARITY PIVOT HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION 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. 2018-05-15T20:22:06Z 2018-05-15T20:22:06Z 2018-05 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/589781525350527565/Do-demographics-matter-for-African-child-poverty http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29832 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8426 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 Africa 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 MEASUREMENT DEMOGRAPHICS CHILD POVERTY HOUSEHOLD SIZE EQUIVALENCE SCALES POVERTY RATE PURCHASING POWER PARITY PIVOT HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION |
| spellingShingle |
POVERTY MEASUREMENT DEMOGRAPHICS CHILD POVERTY HOUSEHOLD SIZE EQUIVALENCE SCALES POVERTY RATE PURCHASING POWER PARITY PIVOT HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION Batana, Yele M. Cockburn, John Do Demographics Matter for African Child Poverty? |
| geographic_facet |
Africa Africa Sub-Saharan Africa |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8426 |
| description |
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. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Batana, Yele M. Cockburn, John |
| author_facet |
Batana, Yele M. Cockburn, John |
| author_sort |
Batana, Yele M. |
| title |
Do Demographics Matter for African Child Poverty? |
| title_short |
Do Demographics Matter for African Child Poverty? |
| title_full |
Do Demographics Matter for African Child Poverty? |
| title_fullStr |
Do Demographics Matter for African Child Poverty? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Do Demographics Matter for African Child Poverty? |
| title_sort |
do demographics matter for african child poverty? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2018 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/589781525350527565/Do-demographics-matter-for-African-child-poverty http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29832 |
| _version_ |
1764470502716342272 |