Measuring poverty and inequality in the Republic of Belarus

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NATIONAL STATISTICAL COMMITTEE OF THE REPUBLIC OF
BELARUS
Inna Konoshonok Head of the Living Standards
Statistics and Household Survey Department

• Measuring poverty and inequality in the
  Republic of Belarus

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Measuring poverty and inequality in the Republic
of Belarus

National Statistical Committee of the Republic
of Belarus

• Measurement of poverty and inequalityin the
  Republic of Belarus

Sample Household Living
Standards Survey
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Sample

• Sample size - 6000 private households 0.2 of
  the general population
• General population for the sampling procedure
  the total number of households living in Belarus
  excluding institutional households and homeless
  persons
• Rotation 75 of households

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Sample design

• Three-stage stratified probability sample
• Territorial principle of sampling
• Selection is carried out separately for urban
  and rural areas

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Distribution of sample population over the
territory
Towns and urban-type settlements
Rural localities
National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Survey indicators

• expenditures and income
• food consumption
• durable goods
• housing conditions
• indicators reflecting other aspects of living
  standards

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Approaches to poverty assessment

• Absolute poverty official poverty
  indicator
• Relative poverty
• Subjective poverty

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Absolute poverty

• Statutory national poverty line minimum
  subsistence budget

Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of
Belarus On the minimum subsistence level in
the Republic of Belarus low-income
citizens (families) are citizens
(families) with average per capita income
below the minimum subsistence budget (for
objective reasons)
National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Minimum subsistence budget
food non-food goods services

• Minimumsubsistence level
• Compulsory payments and contributions

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Income indicator

• Income indicator disposable
  resources

money funds value of consumed home-grown
produce value of in-kind benefits and payments
Disposable resources

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Relative poverty

• Relative poverty line 60 of the national
  average per capitaequivalised median disposable
  resources
• National equivalence scale applied

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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National equivalence scale

• 1.0  the first adult in the household
• 0.8  each other adult
• 0.9  each child at the age of over 6 and under
  18
• 0.7   each child at the age of over 3 and under
  6
• 0.5  each child under 3

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Poverty indicators in theRepublic of Belarus
Poverty indicator Indicator value(2012),
Absolute poverty (a share of the population with income below the minimum subsistence budget) 6.3
Relative poverty 14.2
Subjective poverty 14.3
National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Poverty indicator frequency
Quarter Year
Absolute poverty
Relative poverty
Subjective poverty
National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Poverty indicator breakdowns

• national level
• regional level
• urban and rural areas
• socio-demographic population groups (gender, age)
• types of households(household size, households
  with children, pensioners families)

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Inequality indicators
Indicator Indicator value (2012)
Gini coefficient 0.285
Ratio of disposable resources of
10 groups 5.9
20 groups 4.0
National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Material deprivation indicators

• deprivations in housing conditions
• (living in hazardous dwellings,
  available housing floor space does not
  exceed 5 sq. meters per person )
• deprivations in material well-being
• (lack of money for the purchase
  of meat and fish products, new outerwear
  and footwear, durable goods inability
  to pay for unexpected expenses)
• deprivations of households with children
• (lack of money for a regular
  purchase of fruit for children, lack of
  money to buy new clothing and footwear
  for children as they grow out of clothes,
  to provide them with textbooks and school
  supplies)

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Methodological issues of compiling material
deprivation list

• expediency to include material deprivations
  which do not applyto the majority of the
  population
• expediency to include in thegeneral list
  material deprivationstypical only for families
  withchildren
• to define concentrationof deprivations out of
  the basiclist which are associated with poverty
• to define the weight of each deprivation in the
  resulting final index

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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Future developments

• Using the theory of material deprivations
• Multi-dimensional poverty measurement
• Measuring social benefits and subsidies

National Statistical Committeeof the Republic of
Belarus
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• Thank youfor you attention!