Combining census and household survey data for better targeting: The West and Central Africa Poverty Mapping Initiative

There are often large regional differences in poverty and other social indicators within a country. But geographic poverty profiles based on household surveys tend to be limited to broad areas because survey sample sizes are too small to permit analysts to construct valid estimates of poverty at the local level. At the same time policy makers often need finely disaggregated information at the neighborhood, town, or village level in order to implement anti-poverty programs. This short dissemination note presents the process followed for constructing poverty maps using both census and household survey data in West and Central Africa.