Poverty datum line increases by 1%
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
20.04.13
by Rebecca Moyo
THE Zimbabwe Statistical Office (Zimstats) said the National Food Poverty
Line for March as measured stood at US$34,84 per person, an increase of 1
percent from US$34,5.
The International Labour Organisation recommends that the PDL should be used
as a benchmark or reference point in determining minimum wages.
This means an average person in Zimbabwe survives on US$1,16 per day.
The World Bank defines poverty in absolute terms and extreme poverty as
living on less than US$1,25 per day, and moderate poverty as less than US$2
a day.
The country’s poverty datum line for an average of five persons per
household stood at US$541 in March, a growth of US1,14 percent from the
February figure of US$535 and shows an increase of 1,2 percent from US$534
in the comparable year ago period.
The poverty line is the threshold below which families or individuals are
considered to be lacking the resources to meet the basic needs for healthy
living; in other words, having insufficient income to provide the food,
shelter and clothing needed to preserve health.
The total consumption poverty line (TCPL) for an average household in the
period ranged from US$473 in Mash Central to US$618 in Mat South. Zimstat
says this is explained by the differences in average prices in the
provinces.
The TCPL for one person stood at US$108, an increase of 1,14 percent from
February and a 1,2 percent increase year on year after food prices rose
following the increase in fuel duty by the Finance minister. This means that
an individual required that much to purchase both non-food and food items as
at March 2013 in order not to be deemed poor
The Food Poverty Line (FPL) for a family of five was at $174, a decrease of
1 percent on a monthly basis and an increase of 5,5 percent on annual basis.
No details of the items included in the index are provided in the ZimStat
figures, but the differences in costs between different parts of the country
are shown. Compared to US$541,04, the average cost for the basic
requirements for a family of five for the whole country, the figure for
Harare is US$571.94, for Bulawayo US$538,82, for Masvingo US$561,38 and for
Manicaland US$510,42. The highest figure for the country is Matabeleland
North at $618.14, followed by Mat South at US$588,43 and the lowest is
Mashonaland Central US$472,62.
Generally, consumption is the preferred welfare indicator for a number of
reasons. Income is generally more difficult to measure accurately. For
example, the poor who work in the informal sector may not receive or report
monetary wages; self-employed workers often experience irregular income
flows; and many people in rural areas depend on agricultural incomes.
Moreover, consumption accords better with the idea of the standard of living
than income, which can vary over time even if the actual standard of living
does not.