POVERTY: Poverty by headcount

Sonam Pelden
26 October 2010
Report links poverty to socio-economic conditions
Poor gewogs generally have poor access to markets, road networks, and poor rural elec­trification, according to small area estimation of poverty in rural Bhutan, a joint report prepared National Statistic Bureau and the World Bank, released this week.
Densely populated but non-poor gewogs in the west have high rates of rural electrifica­tion. Poverty incidence of each gewog is also associated with school attendance of children and linkage between gender and development.
Consumption expenditure alone is not the best way to measure the extent of depri­vation in remote areas. The report shows the picture of poverty in the country down to the gewog level.
Unlike the 2007 poverty analysis report that detailed only the national and dzong­khag level poverty estimates, this report has poverty maps to help locate pockets of poverty and deprivation in the gewogs enabling a proper headcount of poor people.
Earlier, all gewogs in a dzongkhag are assumed to have equal poverty rates. This study shows gewog-level pov­erty estimates to better reflect the ground realities.
The geographic patterns of poverty like access to roads, markets, education, electric­ity, and gender were used to calibrate poverty al­leviation strategies to fit local conditions.
Such findings, according to the report, can be used for designing, planning and moni­toring poverty alleviation strategies at the gewog level.
Areas in the southwest of the country around Samtse have high poverty rates with large number of poor people, and dzongkhags in the east have high rates of poverty but fewer poor people owing to lower population density.
Market access and con­nection to road networks, the report states, are the main drivers of poverty reduction and development in rural areas. One of the poorest dzongkhags, Zhemgang, has little access to road networks and markets, whereas places in the west are highly con­nected to markets and have lowest poverty levels. How­ever, Gasa makes an exception with low poverty incidence with limited market access.
Though Bhutan has made a tremendous progress in access to education in rural areas, there are many areas where few children attend school. Many of these gewogs tend to have high poverty rates. Poor gewogs register lower school attendance com­pared to non-poor gewogs.
Bringing electricity to rural population not only improves the quality of life, but also promotes economic activ­ity and increase agriculture production. The areas with high electrification rates tend to be concentrated in rich and densely populated gewogs in Paro, Chukha, Thimphu and Punakha. And rural electrifi­cation is relatively low in rest of the country.
Linkage between gender and development has gained much attention among devel­opment practitioners. Wom­en’s engagement in economic activities can bring more income and other resources to households and elevate the living standard. The report suggests that incorporating the pattern between rural poverty and female labour force participation can shed more light on the gender and development connection in Bhutan.
The poverty analysis report of 2007 states that about one fourth of the country’s population is estimated to be poor with rural poverty level as high as 30.9 percent.
The 2007 report estab­lished the poverty line at Nu 1,097 a person for a month with Nu 689 on food require­ment and Nu 408 on non-food requirement. About 23 percent of the population—146,000 of 629,000— was found to be poor. About six percent of the population was subsistence poor— consump­tion below food requirement of Nu 689.
The government aspires to bring down the poverty level to as low as 15 percent by the end of the 10th plan.

A gewog refers to a group of villages in Bhutan and thus forms an intermediate geographic administrative unit between village and dzongkhag. The country comprises 205 gewogs, which average 230 km² in area. The gewogs in turn are divided into chewogs. Beginning in the late 1980s, the King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck has pursued a long-time programme of decentralization. In 1991, following this principle, the gewogs became official administrative units, each headed by a gup or headman. The first-ever elections in Bhutan were held at that time, with a representative from each household voting to select their local gup.
 (from the invaluable Wikipedia)
http://www.bhutanobserver.bt/2010/bhutan-news/10/poverty-by-headcount-2.html