Making the Poor Count Takes More than Counting the Poor: A Quick Poverty Assessment of the State of Bahia, Brazil

The state of Bahia, Brazil has made progress in reducing poverty and improving social indicators in the past decade. Despite this progress, Bahia's poverty is among the highest and its social indicators are among the lowest in Brazil. Currently, 41 percent of Bahia's population live in households below the poverty level, a drop of 14 percentage points since 1993. Moreover, poverty is less deep than in 1993, but deeper than in 1981. The fall in Bahia's social indicators, such as infant mortality and adult illiteracy, corroborate the improvement in measured income poverty. Part of the reason why the poverty indicators of Bahia are worse than in other countries with similar per-capita income is because of income inequality. In 2000 the Gini coefficient for Bahia was 0.61. The National Household Survey Data, PNAD, from 1981-2001 reveal that living in Bahia does not by itself affect the probability of falling below the poverty line in Brazil. Hence, other characteristics are more important for poverty reduction than geographical location. The strongest poverty correlates are education, experience, race, rural location, gender, and labor market association. Analyses reveal that the probability of being poor is decreasing with increasing educational attainment. The gender of the household head does not matter for poverty according to the poverty profile, but when we control for education and other individual characteristics, female-headed households have a much larger likelihood of being poor than do male-headed households. Household size also matters for poverty. Larger households are more likely to experience poverty than smaller households, and the effect is concave. Moreover, households with members under age five appear more likely to fall below the poverty line than families with no children below five years old. The presence of old-aged people (above 65 years of age) in the household is an important factor contributing to poverty reduction.

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Verner, Dorte
Format:	Policy Research Working Paper biblioteca
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, D.C. 2004-02
Subjects:	ABSOLUTE TERMS, ACCESS TO SERVICES, AGED, ALCOHOL, ANALYTICAL WORK, ANNUAL RATE, AVAILABLE DATA, AVERAGE AGE, AVERAGE INCOMES, BIRTH RATE, CANCER, CAPITA INCOMES, CERVICAL CANCER, CONDOMS, DEBT, DEMOGRAPHICS, DEPENDENCY RATIO, DEVELOPMENT INDICATORS, ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES, ECONOMIC CONDITIONS, ECONOMIC GROWTH, ECONOMIC POLICIES, ECONOMIC SITUATION, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, ELDERLY PEOPLE, EMPLOYMENT, EXCHANGE RATE, EXTREME POVERTY, FAMILIES, FAMILY PLANNING, FOOD BASKET, GINI COEFFICIENT, GINI INDEX, GROWTH RATE, HEADCOUNT POVERTY, HEALTH CARE, HEALTH PROGRAMS, HIGH INFLATION, HOUSEHOLD ASSETS, HOUSEHOLD INCOME, HOUSEHOLD SIZE, HOUSEHOLD SURVEY, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, ILLITERACY, IMPROVED HEALTH, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, INCOME INEQUALITY, INCOME POVERTY, INCREASED ACCESS, INFLATION, INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE, INTEREST RATES, LABOR FORCE, LABOR MARKET, LIFE EXPECTANCY, LIVING CONDITIONS, MACROECONOMIC STABILITY, MACROECONOMIC STABILIZATION, MEDIAN INCOME, MIGRATION, MINIMUM WAGE, MONETARY POLICIES, MORTALITY, MOTHERS, MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS, NATIONAL AVERAGE, NON-POOR HOUSEHOLDS, NUTRITION, OIL, PER-CAPITA INCOME, POLICY MAKING, POLICY REFORMS, POLICY RESEARCH, POOR, POOR HOUSEHOLDS, POOR PERSON, POPULATION GROWTH, POVERTY ALLEVIATION, POVERTY ASSESSMENT, POVERTY GAP, POVERTY INDICATORS, POVERTY LINE, POVERTY MEASURE, POVERTY MEASURES, POVERTY PROFILE, POVERTY RATE, POVERTY RATES, POVERTY REDUCING, POVERTY REDUCTION, POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY, PROSTATE CANCER, PUBLIC POLICY, PUBLIC PROGRAMS, PUBLIC SERVICES, PUBLIC UTILITIES, QUALITY OF LIFE, QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS, REDUCED POVERTY, REDUCING INFLATION, REDUCING POVERTY, REGIONAL DISPARITIES, RURAL AREAS, RURAL ECONOMY, SAVINGS, SIGNIFICANT EFFECT, SOCIAL ASSISTANCE, SOCIAL EXCLUSION, SOCIAL INDICATORS, SOCIAL PROGRAMS, SOCIAL PROTECTION, SOCIAL PROTECTION PROGRAMS, SOCIAL SERVICES, SQUARED POVERTY GAP, SUSTAINABLE POVERTY, URBAN AREAS, VIOLENCE, VULNERABLE GROUPS, WAGES, WATER SUPPLY, WORKERS, YOUNG ADULTS POVERTY, INFANT MORTALITY, ADULT ILLITERACY,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2004/02/3910308/making-poor-count-takes-more-counting-poor-quick-poverty-assessment-state-bahia-brazil http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14313
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