Rio Group

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Rio Group Information and Feedback on the
Compendium of Good Practices
Zélia Magalhães Bianchini Deputy Director of
Surveys e-mail zbianchi_at_ibge.gov.br
Expert Group Meeting on the Handbook on Poverty
Statistics UNSD, United Nations New York
28-30 June 2005
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Rio Group - Background information

• UN Statistical Commission in 1996 approved the
  recommendation to establish an Expert Group on
  Poverty Statistics (Rio Group)
• Rio Group is chaired by IBGE with ECLAC acting as
  Executive Secretary   
• The meetings were an opportunity for many
  countries to present and compare their
  experiences and methodologies in measuring and
  analyzing the situation of poverty in their
  different aspects

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Rio Group - Most relevant conditions established
to accept a measurement as practice

• The estimates are the responsibility of a public
  or private (academic) institution
• The estimates are public and available to the
  media
• The estimates are periodic permitting a
  comparable series
• The methodologies used are available for the
  public
• Well-known sources of information are available
  for the public.

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Expert Group on Poverty Statistics Meetings

• First meeting Santiago, 7-9 May 1997
• Second meeting Rio de Janeiro, 13-15 May 1998
• Third meeting Lisbon, 22-24 November 1999
• Fourth meeting Rio de Janeiro, 15-17 October
  2001
• Fifth Meeting Rio de Janeiro, 13-15 November,
  2002
• Sixth Meeting, Rio de Janeiro, 12-14 November
  2003
• Seventh Meeting, Rio de Janeiro, 6-8 December
  2004

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Expert Group on Poverty Statistics Participants

• Countries 22
• Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Botswana,
  Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, India, Indonesia,
  Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Peru, Portugal,
  South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Uruguay,
  United Kingdom, United States of America.

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Expert Group on Poverty Statistics

• Agencies and others institutions 18
• Centro Latinoamericano de Demografía (CELADE/
  ECLAC)
• Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
• Economic Commission for Latin America and the
  Caribbean (ECLAC)
• Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the
  Pacific (ESCAP)
• Economic Commission for Europe (ECE)
• EUROSTAT
• Human Science Research Council
• Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
• International Labor Organization (ILO)
• London School of Economics and Political Science

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Expert Group on Poverty Statistics

• Agencies and others institutions 18
• Organization for Economic Cooperation and
  Development Paris 21
• Pan American Health Organization/World Health
  Organization (PAHO/WHO)
• Townsend Center for International Poverty
  Research
• The World Bank (BIRD)
• United Nations Latin American and Caribbean
  Institute for Economic and Social Planning
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
• United Nations Population Fund (UNPF)
• United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)

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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices
Summary Introduction 2. Absolute Poverty 3.
NBI / DI - Unsatisfied Basic Needs / Deprivation
Indicators 4. Integrated
Approach 5. Relative Poverty 6. Subjective
Poverty Conclusions
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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices
Framework of chapters A. Introduction
Concepts and methods B.Standards and resources
Standards Resources for meeting standards
Sources of information C. Availability of
periodic calculations D. Technical
characteristics Similarity and differences among
estimates E. Challenges, options and shortcomings
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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices
Introduction

• It covers two main distinctive purposes
• it explains the content of the compendium, making
  clear the Rio Group limitations and its scope of
  countries coverage
• it presents a conceptual and historical approach
  of poverty

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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices Chapter
2 - Absolute Poverty

• In this chapter Canada, USA and ECLAC experiences
  are well covered
• It is necessary to work better the aspects of
  income and consumption showing the differences
  between the notion of expenditure and
  consumption.
• As the structure of the chapter should be
  representative of the majority of international
  practices, a box is being prepared relating the
  most important experiences.

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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices Chapter
3 - UNB / DI (Unsatisfied Basic Needs /
Deprivation Indicators)

• This chapter gives a good framework about Basic
  Needs practices although the experiences are
  mostly related to Latin American countries.
• An international approach will be added.
• As a complementary approach, a box will be
  included with some practices based on
  multi-dimensional indicators such as HDI.

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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices Chapter
4 - Integrated Approach

• The draft we have is specific of the British
  experience (even though it is an official
  measurement in Ireland)
• It will be included details of how income and
  deprivation indicators are combined to measure
  poverty by Ireland and UK
• The method should be described in more general
  terms
• Some steps of the deprivation index will be more
  clarified
• Others experiences must be added such as Kaztman
  y Boltvinik as well as the World Bank proposal to
  measure income integrating the information of
  surveys and Census

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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices Chapter
5 - Relative Poverty

• This chapter describes mainly the EUROSTAT
  practices
• Other practices will be included
• Calculations, similarities, differences, options
  and challenges comments will be more developed

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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices Chapter
6 - Subjective Poverty

• The draft of this chapter it been done by ECLAC
• It is mostly used as a complementary method to
  objective and relative measurement
• In this sense, this method has a different status
  in relation to the others, since it is not
  officially used by any country

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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices
Conclusions

• There will be 2 or 3 parts.
• The idea is to establish a connection between
  methods and policies and international
  comparisons.
• ECLAC is in charge of the strategies of
  information.

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Rio Group - Compendium of Good Practices Next
Steps

• Preliminary version - July / August 2005
• Comments by experts - September 2005
• Revision by IBGE and ECLAC - October 2005
• Editing - November 2005

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Expert Group on Poverty Statistics Background
documents (7 meetings)

• IBGE
• http//www.ibge.gov.br/poverty
• UNSD - http//unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/citygrou
  p/rio.htm