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Poverty in African households: the limits of survey and census representations

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  • Randall, Sara
  • Coast, Ernestina

Abstract

African poverty statistics depend on household-level measurements from survey data, making the definition of household of critical importance. Detailed case studies from Tanzania and Burkina Faso explore (1) understandings of household membership and ambiguities, and (2) how well survey definitions capture households as economic units, and the implications for household size and responses to and mitigation of poverty. We develop an analytic framework of ‘open’ and ‘closed’ households. ‘Open’ households cope with poverty using flexibility, movement and extra-household networks, but are poorly represented by survey data. Closed households are likely to be better described by survey data.

Suggested Citation

  • Randall, Sara & Coast, Ernestina, 2015. "Poverty in African households: the limits of survey and census representations," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59504, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:59504
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lockwood, Matthew, 1998. "Fertility and Household Labour in Tanzania: Demography, Economy, and Society in Rufiji District, c.1870-1986," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198287544.
    2. Ellis, Frank, 2000. "Rural Livelihoods and Diversity in Developing Countries," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198296966.
    3. 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.
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    Cited by:

    1. Diego Alburez-Gutierrez, 2019. "Blood is thicker than bloodshed: A genealogical approach to reconstruct populations after armed conflicts," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 40(23), pages 627-656.
    2. Hammond, James & Fraval, Simon & van Etten, Jacob & Suchini, Jose Gabriel & Mercado, Leida & Pagella, Tim & Frelat, Romain & Lannerstad, Mats & Douxchamps, Sabine & Teufel, Nils & Valbuena, Diego & va, 2017. "The Rural Household Multi-Indicator Survey (RHoMIS) for rapid characterisation of households to inform climate smart agriculture interventions: Description and applications in East Africa and Central ," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 225-233.
    3. Vincent Leyaro & Elineema Kisanga & Gemma Wright & Helen Barnes & Michell Mpike, 2015. "Tax-benefit microsimulation modelling in Tanzania," WIDER Working Paper Series 145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Adel Daoud & Felipe Jordán & Makkunda Sharma & Fredrik Johansson & Devdatt Dubhashi & Sourabh Paul & Subhashis Banerjee, 2023. "Using Satellite Images and Deep Learning to Measure Health and Living Standards in India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 475-505, June.
    5. Jones, Sam & Tvedten, Inge, 2019. "What does it mean to be poor? Investigating the qualitative-quantitative divide in Mozambique," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 153-166.
    6. Luca Maria Pesando & GFC team, 2019. "Global Family Change: Persistent Diversity with Development," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(1), pages 133-168, March.
    7. Sam Jones & Inge Tvedten, 2018. "What does it mean to be poor?: Investigating the qualitative–quantitative divide in Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series 75, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    8. Al Kez, Dlzar & Foley, Aoife & Abdul, Zrar Khald & Del Rio, Dylan Furszyfer, 2024. "Energy poverty prediction in the United Kingdom: A machine learning approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    9. Daoud, Adel & Jordan, Felipe & Sharma, Makkunda & Johansson, Fredrik & Dubhashi, Devdatt & Paul, Sourabh & Banerjee, Subhashis, 2021. "Using satellites and artificial intelligence to measure health and material-living standards in India," SocArXiv vf28g, Center for Open Science.
    10. Wilhelm Östberg & Olivia Howland & Joseph Mduma & Dan Brockington, 2018. "Tracing Improving Livelihoods in Rural Africa Using Local Measures of Wealth: A Case Study from Central Tanzania, 1991–2016," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-26, April.
    11. Vincent Leyaro & Elineema Kisanga & Gemma Wright & Helen Barnes & Michell Mpike, 2015. "Tax-benefit microsimulation modelling in Tanzania: A feasibility study," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-145, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Leila Fardeau & Eva Lelièvre & Loïc Trabut, 2023. "Complex households, a challenge for the study of families through census data," Working Papers 274, French Institute for Demographic Studies.
    13. Enid Schatz & Janet Seeley & Flavia Zalwango, 2018. "Intergenerational care for and by children: Examining reciprocity through focus group interviews with older adults in rural Uganda," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 38(63), pages 2003-2026.
    14. Brockington, Dan & Coast, Ernestina & Mdee, A & Howland, O & Randall, Sara, 2019. "Assets and domestic units: methodological challenges for longitudinal studies of poverty dynamics," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100877, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Jessie J. Goldsmith & Patricia T. Campbell & Juan Pablo Villanueva-Cabezas & Rebecca H. Chisholm & Melita McKinnon & George G. Gurruwiwi & Roslyn G. Dhurrkay & Alfred M. Dockery & Nicholas Geard & Ste, 2022. "Capturing Household Structure and Mobility within and between Remote Aboriginal Communities in Northern Australia Using Longitudinal Data: A Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-20, September.
    16. Seth Schindler & Jonathan Silver, 2019. "Florida in the Global South: How Eurocentrism Obscures Global Urban Challenges—and What We Can Do about It," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 794-805, July.
    17. David Mmopelwa, 2019. "Household size, birth order and child health in Botswana," Discussion Papers 2019-10, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    18. Sam Jones & Inge Tvedten, 2018. "What does it mean to be poor?: Investigating the qualitative-quantitative divide in Mozambique," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-75, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Rowland G. Seymour & David Sirl & Simon P. Preston & Ian L. Dryden & Madeleine J. A. Ellis & Bertrand Perrat & James Goulding, 2022. "The Bayesian Spatial Bradley–Terry model: Urban deprivation modelling in Tanzania," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series C, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 71(2), pages 288-308, March.
    20. Adel Daoud & Felipe Jordan & Makkunda Sharma & Fredrik Johansson & Devdatt Dubhashi & Sourabh Paul & Subhashis Banerjee, 2021. "Measuring poverty in India with machine learning and remote sensing," Papers 2202.00109, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2022.
    21. Sara Randall & Ernestina Coast & Philippe Antoine & Natacha Compaore & Fatou-Binetou Dial & Alexandra Fanghanel & Sadio Ba Gning & Bilampoa Gnoumou Thiombiano & Valérie Golaz & Stephen Ojiambo Wander, 2015. "UN Census “Households†and Local Interpretations in Africa Since Independence," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(2), pages 21582440155, June.

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