IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/subboe/v63y2018i1p3-19n1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Multidimensional Poverty Analysis of Urban and Rural Households in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Megbowon Ebenezer Toyin

    (University of Fort Hare, South Africa)

Abstract

The study profiled and compared household multidimensional poverty status and its determinants among urban and rural households in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, using information from a sample population of 3033 households interviewed from the Province during the General Household Survey conducted by the Statistics South Africa in 2014. Analytical techniques utilized include the recent multidimensional poverty index (MPI), descriptive statistics and Tobit regression. Findings reveal that multiple deprivations are found mostly in the rural area of the province; the multidimensional headcount is highest in the rural area, though the intensity of multidimensional poverty is almost similar in both geographical locations. The standard of living dimension is also the largest contribution to MPI in both locations. MPI has significant links with education attainment of household head, access to electricity and asset stock in both geographical locations, but is influenced by the gender of head, agriculture engagement and household monthly income in rural areas only. In order to improve households’ multidimensional poverty status in both urban and rural locations, there is the need to take into account some significant variables such as education of head, increase electricity subsidy coverage during winter period, asset accumulation and increase in households’ participation in agricultural activities, especially those residing in rural areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Megbowon Ebenezer Toyin, 2018. "Multidimensional Poverty Analysis of Urban and Rural Households in South Africa," Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Oeconomica, Sciendo, vol. 63(1), pages 3-19, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:subboe:v:63:y:2018:i:1:p:3-19:n:1
    DOI: 10.2478/subboec-2018-0001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/subboec-2018-0001
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2478/subboec-2018-0001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mduduzi Biyase & Talent Zwane, 2018. "An Empirical Analysis Of The Determinants Of Poverty And Household Welfare In South Africa," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 52(1), pages 115-130, January-M.
    2. Sabina Alkire, Maria Emma Santos, 2010. "Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries," OPHI Working Papers 38, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    3. Ada Jansen & Mariana Moses & Stanford Mujuta & Derek Yu, 2015. "Measurements and determinants of multifaceted poverty in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 151-169, March.
    4. John Ele-Ojo Ataguba & Hyacinth Eme Ichoku & William M. Fonta, 2013. "Multidimensional poverty assessment: applying the capability approach," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 40(4), pages 331-354, April.
    5. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James & Seth, Suman & Santos, Maria Emma & Roche, Jose Manuel & Ballon, Paola, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199689491.
    6. Bruce D. Meyer & James X. Sullivan, 2003. "Measuring the Well-Being of the Poor Using Income and Consumption," NBER Working Papers 9760, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. John Gibson, 2016. "Poverty Measurement: We Know Less than Policy Makers Realize," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(3), pages 430-442, September.
    8. John Ele‐Ojo Ataguba & Hyacinth Eme Ichoku & William M. Fonta, 2013. "Multidimensional poverty assessment: applying the capability approach," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 40(4), pages 331-354, March.
    9. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    10. Frank Ellis, 2000. "The Determinants of Rural Livelihood Diversification in Developing Countries," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 289-302, May.
    11. Lipton, Michael & Ravallion, Martin, 1995. "Poverty and policy," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 41, pages 2551-2657, Elsevier.
    12. Dorrit Posel & Michael Rogan, 2014. "Measured as Poor Versus Feeling Poor: Comparing Objective and Subjective Poverty Rates in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-133, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Stephen Klasen, 2000. "Measuring Poverty And Deprivation In South Africa," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 46(1), pages 33-58, March.
    14. McDonald, John F & Moffitt, Robert A, 1980. "The Uses of Tobit Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(2), pages 318-321, May.
    15. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, Suman Seth, Maria Emma Santos, Jose M. Roche and Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 9 - Distribution and Dynamics," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp090_ch9.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    16. Michael Noble & Helen Barnes & Gemma Wright & Benjamin Roberts, 2010. "Small Area Indices of Multiple Deprivation in South Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 95(2), pages 281-297, January.
    17. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, Suman Seth, Maria Emma Santos, José M. Roche and Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 7 - Data and Analysis," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp088_ch7.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    18. Alem, Yonas & Köhlin, Gunnar & Stage, Jesper, 2014. "The Persistence of Subjective Poverty in Urban Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 51-61.
    19. Shrabanti Maity, 2018. "Multidimensional Poverty Status of Bodo Tribes of Udalguri District, Bodoland, Assam," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 43(1), pages 29-47, March.
    20. Lloyd James S. Baiyegunhi, 2014. "Social capital effects on rural household poverty in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa," Agrekon, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(2), pages 47-64, June.
    21. Sabina Alkire & James E. Foster & Suman Seth & Maria Emma Santos & Jose M. Roche & Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 9 - Distribution and Dynamics," OPHI Working Papers 90, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    22. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, Suman Seth, Maria Emma Santos, José M. Roche and Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 2 - The Framework," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp083_ch2.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    23. Anderson, Bret, 2012. "Converting Asset Holdings into Livelihood: An Empirical Study on the Role of Household Agency in South Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1394-1406.
    24. Emily Frame & Ariane de Lannoy & Murray Leibbrandt, 2016. "Measuring multidimensional poverty among youth in South Africa at the sub-national level," SALDRU Working Papers 169, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    25. Emmanuel Joseph Mensah & Marilyne Huchet-Bourdon & Laure Latruffe, 2014. "Infrastructure Access and Household Welfare in Rural Ghana," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(3), pages 508-519, September.
    26. Posel, Dorrit & Rogan, Michael, 2014. "Measured as poor versus feeling poor: Comparing objective and subjective poverty rates in South Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series 133, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    27. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    28. Lungile Ntsalaze & Sylvanus Ikhide, 2018. "Rethinking Dimensions: The South African Multidimensional Poverty Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 195-213, January.
    29. Sabina Alkire & James E. Foster & Suman Seth & Maria Emma Santos & Jose M. Roche & Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 7 - Data and Analysis," OPHI Working Papers 88, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    30. Michael Carter & Christopher Barrett, 2006. "The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 178-199.
    31. Sabina Alkire & James E. Foster & Suman Seth & Maria Emma Santos & Jose M. Roche & Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 2 - The Framework," OPHI Working Papers 83, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    32. Neelesh Gounder, 2012. "The determinants of household consumption and poverty in Fiji," Discussion Papers in Economics economics:201205, Griffith University, Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics.
    33. Dalila Cervantes-Godoy & Joe Dewbre, 2010. "Economic Importance of Agriculture for Poverty Reduction," OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers 23, OECD Publishing.
    34. Alkire, Sabina & Santos, Maria Emma, 2014. "Measuring Acute Poverty in the Developing World: Robustness and Scope of the Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 251-274.
    35. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon & John Knight, 2006. "Subjective well-being poverty vs. Income poverty and capabilities poverty?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 1199-1224.
    36. Sunmee Cho & Taeyoon Kim, 2017. "Determinants of Poverty Status in Rwanda," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 337-349, June.
    37. Arden Finn & Murray Leibbrandt & Ingrid Woolard, 2013. "What happened to multidimensional poverty in South Africa between 1993 and 2010?," SALDRU Working Papers 099, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town.
    38. Darlington Mushongera & Precious Zikhali & Phindile Ngwenya, 2017. "A Multidimensional Poverty Index for Gauteng Province, South Africa: Evidence from Quality of Life Survey Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 277-303, January.
    39. Haroon Bhorat & Carlene van der Westhuizen & Toughedah Jacobs, 2009. "Income and Non-Income Inequality in Post-Apartheid South Africa: What are the Drivers and Possible Policy Interventions?," Working Papers 09138, University of Cape Town, Development Policy Research Unit.
    40. John C. Anyanwu, 2014. "Marital Status, Household Size and Poverty in Nigeria: Evidence from the 2009/2010 Survey Data," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(1), pages 118-137, March.
    41. Charles Meth & Rosa Dias, 2004. "Increases in poverty in South Africa, 1999-2002," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 59-85.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tizifa, Tapiwa & Maharjan, Keshav Lall, 2021. "Multidimensional Poverty in Rural and Urban Malawi: A Comparative Analysis of Nsanje District and Lilongwe City," 2021 ASAE 10th International Conference (Virtual), January 11-13, Beijing, China 329416, Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vollmer, Frank & Alkire, Sabina, 2022. "Consolidating and improving the assets indicator in the global Multidimensional Poverty Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    2. Ali Akbar Barati & Milad Zhoolideh & Mostafa Moradi & Eydieh Sohrabi Mollayousef & Christine Fürst, 2022. "Multidimensional poverty and livelihood strategies in rural Iran," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(11), pages 12963-12993, November.
    3. Nick Bailey & Anne-Catherine Guio, 2022. "Adaptive Deprivation Scales in a Multi-National Context: The European Child Deprivation Indicators," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(6), pages 2335-2362, December.
    4. Khaufelo Raymond Lekobane, 2022. "Leaving No One Behind: An Individual-Level Approach to Measuring Multidimensional Poverty in Botswana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 179-208, July.
    5. Fan Yang & Krishna P. Paudel, 2023. "Nutrition, multidimensional poverty and income: The case of Nepal," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(7), pages 1962-1984, October.
    6. Deniz Sevinc, 2020. "How Poor is Poor? A novel look at multidimensional poverty in the UK," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(3), pages 833-859, June.
    7. Kehinde O. Omotoso & Jimi O. Adesina & Taiwo F. Gbadegesin, 2020. "Children on the Edge: Estimating Children’s Vulnerability to Multidimensional Poverty in Post-Apartheid South Africa," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(4), pages 1155-1174, August.
    8. Christoph Bader & Sabin Bieri & Urs Wiesmann & Andreas Heinimann, 2016. "Differences Between Monetary and Multidimensional Poverty in the Lao PDR: Implications for Targeting of Poverty Reduction Policies and Interventions," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(2), pages 171-197, June.
    9. Oznur Ozdamar & Eleftherios Giovanis, 2019. "Youth Multidimensional Poverty and Its Dynamics: Evidence From Selected Countries In The Mena Region," Working Papers 1339, Economic Research Forum, revised 21 Aug 2019.
    10. Burhan Can Karahasan & Fırat Bilgel, 2021. "The Topography and Sources of Multidimensional Poverty in Turkey," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 413-445, April.
    11. Alkire, Sabina & Oldiges, Christian & Kanagaratnam, Usha, 2021. "Examining multidimensional poverty reduction in India 2005/6–2015/16: Insights and oversights of the headcount ratio," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    12. Lungile Ntsalaze & Sylvanus Ikhide, 2018. "Rethinking Dimensions: The South African Multidimensional Poverty Index," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(1), pages 195-213, January.
    13. Khaufelo Raymond Lekobane, 2022. "Does it matter which poverty measure we use to identify those left behind? Investigating poverty mismatch and overlap for Botswana," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 24(1), pages 171-196, June.
    14. Kehinde O. Omotoso & Steven F. Koch, 2017. "Exploring Child Poverty and Inequality in Post-Apartheid South Africa: A Multidimensional Perspective," Working Papers 201718, University of Pretoria, Department of Economics.
    15. Suman Seth & Melba Verra Tutor, 2021. "Evaluation of Anti‐Poverty Programs’ Impact on Joint Disadvantages: Insights From the Philippine Experience," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 67(4), pages 977-1004, December.
    16. Santos Maria Emma & Lustig Nora & Miranda Zanetti Maximiliano, 2023. "Counting and Accounting: Measuring the Effectiveness of Fiscal Policy in Multidimensional Poverty Reduction," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4691, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    17. Pinaki Das & Bibek Paria & Shama Firdaush, 2021. "Juxtaposing Consumption Poverty and Multidimensional Poverty: A Study in Indian Context," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(2), pages 469-501, January.
    18. Jacob Katuva & Rob Hope & Tim Foster & Johanna Koehler & Patrick Thomson, 2020. "Modelling Welfare Transitions to Prioritise Sustainable Development Interventions in Coastal Kenya," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-22, August.
    19. Abre-Rehmat Qurat-ul-Ann & Faisal Mehmood Mirza, 2021. "Multidimensional Energy Poverty in Pakistan: Empirical Evidence from Household Level Micro Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 211-258, May.
    20. Gaurav Datt, 2019. "Multidimensional poverty in the Philippines, 2004–2013: How much do choices for weighting, identification and aggregation matter?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1103-1128, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Multidimensional Poverty Index; Urban; Rural; Tobit Regression;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:subboe:v:63:y:2018:i:1:p:3-19:n:1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.