Poverty Analysis Guideline
Annex 3 | Key Questions for Developing a Country Poverty Profile
On this page
The following is a set of questions that may be used to guide the poverty profile formulation process. The answers to these questions should ideally be derived from both quantitative and qualitative data sources.
Income and consumption
- What are the main consumption and production characteristics of the poor?
- What is the composition of consumption by the poor (including public goods)? How has it evolved over time, and what are the major determinants of change?
- What are the staple foods consumed by the poor, and what are the pricing policies and production trends of these commodities?
- What are the major income and consumption risks faced by the poor?
- How frequently are such risks likely to manifest themselves? What systems and contingencies exist to protect the poor from the negative effects of these risks?
Human capabilities
- What do human capability indicators tell us about the living standards of the poor (infant, child and maternal mortality/morbidity rates; nutritional status; literacy; life expectancy, etc.)? How have these changed over time? What were the main determinants of change?
- What relationship exists between income and human capability indicators of poverty? Are the same groups considered poor by both sets of indicators, or do they differ? What factors explain the divergence (e.g., in cases of transitory poverty, human poverty may remain stable while income poverty declines).
Access to public services
- To what degree do the poor have access to public and private social services (primarily health services and schools)? What are the reasons for lack of access (from both the supply and demand sides of the equation)?
- What degree of access do the poor have to infrastructure (e.g., potable water systems and sanitation facilities, public transportation, electricity)?
- What are the major obstacles for expanding access to infrastructure?
Assets and employment
- What are the asset holdings of the poor (is this relevant to their production technologies, use of inputs, etc.)? Do the rural poor farm their own land? How do they save? How much do they save? Under what conditions?
- Do the poor have access to credit? At what price?
- What employment/income-generating activities are the poor primarily dependent upon? Are they mainly in tradable or nontradable sectors or both? Are the urban poor mainly involved in wage employment or are they micro-entrepreneurs, in the formal or informal sectors, in manufacturing or service sectors, etc.?) How have these characteristics changed over time?
- What percentage of the workforce is comprised of women, and what sectors and occupations do they predominate?
- What are the housing conditions of the poor (e.g., how many rooms per person, roofing and floor material, piped water, etc.)? Do they own their homes?
Natural resources environment
- What natural resources form the principal sources of livelihoods for the poor? How have they changed over time in terms of quantity and quality?
- What percentage of rural households are secure in their food supplies? What are the main environmental causes of lack of household food security?
- What are the trends in the productivity of the resource base (e.g., yields, fish catches, etc.)? What is the impact of these trends on the well being of the poor, and what alternative livelihoods do they have?
- What are the trends in environmental degradation in areas inhabited by the poor (e.g., soil, biodiversity, water catchment areas, forests, wildlife, marine habitats, etc.)?
- Do the rural poor have access to agricultural support services and infrastructure (e.g., feeder roads, extension services, irrigation, transports/storage/marketing services for the produce of small farmers, etc.)? If not, what are the obstacles and constraints?
- What is the impact of the environment on the health of the poor?
Participation
Lack of political participation is often correlated with poverty, although this may not always be the case. In countries where the poor are severely restricted in their opportunities to participate, it may be helpful to explore the characteristics of this form of deprivation.
- Who has power and how is it exercised?
- How do power relationships influence political and social processes?
- How can the empowerment of the poor and vulnerable be enabled?
- To what degree do the poor participate in public decision-making? How do they participate? How are they excluded from participating?
- How do the poor make their views and needs known to decision-makers? How are the poor represented politically?
- Are the poor free to associate for specific causes? Does the regulatory framework permit organized activities of CSOs and NGOs?
A concerted effort should be made to disaggregate as much of the information collected as possible. Criteria for disaggregation will necessarily be guided by each country’s circumstances and available data, but as a minimum should include: gender, age group, place of residence and special vulnerable groups (ethnic minorities, the disabled, displaced persons, etc.).