scholarly journals Estimating numbers and poverty status of female household and family heads

Author(s):  
Jean Louis Rallu

Abstract: Historical studies of single females and mothers are mostly based on heads of household only, because family-level information concerning complex households was unavailable and they were, therefore, rendered statistically invisible. This is still the case with modern surveys like the household income and expenditure survey, as income and resource data are only provided at household level. By categorising headship rates by sex, age and marital status, this paper presents a methodology for estimating – in addition to heads of household– the numbers of single females and mothers among members of complex or multigenerational households. Such situations were frequent in the past and continue to be so in developing countries and among migrants. Young couples may also be in such living arrangements, mostly in times of crises and tight housing markets.The data analysis shows that access to independent dwellings and to household headship is strongly related to income and employment, and the associated selection leads to significant biases in estimates of the socio-economic status of households or families, in favour of mostly better-off families. The poorest households are made up of those who live independently because no other option is open to them. Little option is open to those with little or no resources, either, and thus they live in complex households where their poverty risk cannot be estimated, and where they may have little influence on the education, health and work of themselves and their children.Key words: Female household heads, Poverty estimates, Youth in poverty, living arrangementsResumen: A lo largo de la historia, los estudios sobre mujeres y madres solteras se han basado por lo general solamente en las cabezas de hogar, pues faltaba la información en el ámbito familiar sobre hogares complejos, y esto los hacía estadísticamente invisibles. Esta situación sigue sucediendo en las encuestas modernas, como la encuesta de ingresos y egresos de los hogares (HIES), ya que solo se obtuvieron datos sobre ingresos y recursos a nivel del hogar. El presente trabajo categoriza las tasas de jefatura según el sexo, la edad, el estado civil y así ofrece una metodología para estimar, además de las cabezas de familia, la cantidad de mujeres y madres solteras entre los miembros de hogares complejos o multigeneracionales. Estas situaciones ocurrían con frecuencia en el pasado y aún se presentan en países en desarrollo y entre los migrantes. Las parejas jóvenes también se pueden encontrar en tales situaciones de vivienda, sobre todo en tiempos de crisis o con un mercado inmobiliario limitado.El análisis de los datos muestra que el acceso a una vivienda independiente y a la jefatura de familia está estrechamente relacionado con el nivel de ingresos y el empleo, y la selección asociada conduce a sesgos importantes en la estimación de la situación socioeconómica de un hogar o familia, lo que favorece a las familias acomodadas. Los hogares más pobres son aquellos que viven de manera independiente porque no tienen otra opción. Quienes cuentan con pocos recursos tienen muy pocas oportunidades, y esto hace que vivan en hogares complejos en los que no se puede medir su riesgo de pobreza y no tengan oportunidades de educación, salud y empleo para sí mismos ni para sus hijos.Palabras clave: Mujeres cabeza de hogar, estimaciones de pobreza, jóvenes en situación de pobreza, situación de vivienda 

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110002
Author(s):  
Olatunji Alabi ◽  
Semeeh A. Omoleke ◽  
Ahmad Abdulwahab

Nigeria recorded her first case of COVID 19 in Lagos State on 27th February 2019, and the number of confirmed cases of COVID 19 has risen to 59 287, with 1113 deaths as of 4th October 2020. The commentary highlighted the importance of a health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) and its potential in addressing surveillance gap, and the inadequacy of existing sociodemographic database used for palliative administration. The authors examined the HDSS in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic response and learning from the Nahuche model. The Nahuche HDSS model has the potential of identifying poor households as it collects standard data on the socio-economic status of each of the households within the demographic surveillance area (DSA). Standard questionnaire in assessing the household socio-economic status adapted from standard surveys, such as Nigeria Health and Demographic Survey and Malaria Indicator Survey, was administered on the household heads of each household every 2 years to monitor socio-economic advancement of the households. Data on variables such as household possessions, including animals and livestock, were collected and analyzed using factor analysis to group the households into different wealth indices. HDSS provides an opportunity to ameliorate the challenges associated with halting the spread of the virus in the areas of surveillance and administration of palliatives in Nigeria, where there is a paucity of reliable demographic and household-level socio-economic data. This paper calls for the setting up of a functioning HDSS in each region of Nigeria to address the dearth of reliable data for planning health and socio-economic interventions.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0259635
Author(s):  
Md. Sabbir Ahmed ◽  
Md Irteja Islam ◽  
Manik Chandra Das ◽  
Arifuzzaman Khan ◽  
Fakir Md Yunus

Background Ensuring water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities for households remains a major public health concern in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study investigated the current situation of basic WASH facilities for households in Bangladesh and drew a national coverage map. Methods We analyzed the publicly available nationally representative 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) dataset that was carried out by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) with support from the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). A total of 61,209 households (weighted) were included in the analysis. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were employed to examine the relationships between independent variables (socio-demographic and economic status) and their distributions over outcome variables (basic water, sanitation, and hygiene). Further, the spatial distribution of WASH facilities at the household level was depicted. Results Coverage of access to basic water facilities at the household level was 99.5% (95% CI 99.4% to 99.6%), sanitation 60.7% (95% CI 60.0% to 61.5%), and hygiene 56.3% (95% CI 55.6% to 57.0%). However, coverage of combined access to all three components was 40.2% (95% CI 39.4% to 40.9%). Among all 64 administrative districts of Bangladesh, we found comparatively lower coverage of WASH facilities in the South and South-East regions and relatively higher in the households of the North and North-Western regions. An adjusted regression model revealed that richest households [AOR = 29.64, 95% CI 26.31 to 33.39], households in the rural areas [AOR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.50 to 1.79], household heads with higher educational attainment [AOR = 2.28, 95% CI 2.09 to 2.49], and households with 5+ family members [AOR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.56 to 1.71] had the higher likelihood to have basic WASH facilities. Conclusion Less than half of the Bangladeshi households had access to all three major WASH components (basic water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities); however, variation exists at the individual parameter of basic water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities. A comprehensive WASH approach may reduce the gap and improve the quality of WASH facilities in Bangladesh.


1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-570
Author(s):  
Ghulam Yasin Soomro

Experiencing high fertility and declining mortality levels, the developing countries are today faced with the problem of relatively high rates of natural increase in their populations. This pace of growth in population, influenced by high fertility levels, impedes the overall development planning. As pointed out in a document prepared by the Planning Commission of Pakistan, 'A vicious circle is set in motion in which high fertility and socio-economic stagnation breed upon each other' [5]. In the developing countries, development programmes including birth control programmes are in operation. The sustained high fertility levels, therefore, call for more insights into the mechanisms operating in the society and influencing fertility. Studies of fertility behaviour are conducted at both micro and macro levels. The difference between micro and macro is a matter of emphasis rather than one of kind, and both approaches are concerned with each level of social aggregation. Macrolevel studies describe the level and pattern of change resulting from the ongoing socio-econornic development in the society as a whole and do not explain variations in fertility at the household level [12]. However, development programmes, which are implemented at aggregate levels defined by geographical boundaries, influence the population in terms of socio-economic status and fertility behaviour. There are many factors which affect human fertility individually or collectively. Attempts have been made to identify these factors, and conceptual frameworks have been developed to explain the causal hypotheses. In this context mention may be made of the demographic transition theory, which is often applied to study fertility behaviour.


2012 ◽  
pp. 9-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Horrell ◽  
Deborah Oxley

Using parish-level information from Sir F.M. Eden's The state of the poor (1797) we can identify typical diets for the counties of England. These diets varied considerably and afforded very different standards of nutrition. We compute a nutritional score for this diet, paying attention to the presence of vitamins, minerals and micronutrients shown to be essential for health and growth in constructing this measure. Other information in the reports allows us to relate county-level nutrition to factors in the local economy. In particular we find nutrition was positively related to the availability of common land in the area and to women's remunerated work if conducted from home. Lack of common land and little local supply of dairy products also pushed households into buying white wheaten bread rather than baking their own wholemeal loaf. Replicating some of this analysis with household-level data confirms these results. Diet also maps onto stature: male convicts to Australia were significantly taller if they originated in a county with a more nutritious diet. This verifies the important impact of nutrition on stature and demonstrates the sensitivity of height as a measure of key aspects of welfare.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5661
Author(s):  
Raffaele Matacena ◽  
Mariangela Zenga ◽  
Marco D’Addario ◽  
Silvia Mari ◽  
Massimo Labra

The COVID-19 emergency and the consequent social distancing requirements have caused major disruptions in daily food-related practices at the household level. In this paper, we evaluate the transformations that occurred in the daily nutritional choices and behaviors of a convenience sample (n = 2288) of Italian residents during the first nation-wide lockdown (March–May 2020) to assess the impact on the health and socio-environmental sustainability of their diets. Results portray a scenario of wide-spread change, especially in relation to the quantity of daily food consumed, the composition of diets and the time and commitment devoted to home-cooking, with young individuals emerging as the most impacted generational cohort. Through the construction of an indicator for healthy–sustainable transition (HST index), we demonstrate that such changes unfold on a gradient, revealing that while for many respondents lockdown nutrition implied overeating and weight gain, a substantial segment of the population conversely improved the healthiness and sustainability of their daily nutritional patterns. In this sense, improvements are associated with young age, socio-economic status, frequency and enjoyment of cooking-from-scratch and, more generally, an attentive attitude towards the quality, provenance and materiality of food that, in turn, the COVID-19 crisis appears to have re-kindled. We conclude by highlighting five areas of institutional intervention (i.e., young people, time, tools, food supply at work, and local food chains) on which to focus in order to ensure the current crisis does not represent a missed opportunity for creating the necessary conditions for sustainable food production and consumption to take hold as the ‘new’ normal in the post-pandemic era.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eskinder Gidey ◽  
Tirhas Gebregergis ◽  
Woldegebrial Zeweld ◽  
Haftamu Gebretsadik ◽  
Ogaile Dikinya ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Drought is one of the most damaging climate-induced threats impacting the lives of many people every year. The purpose of this study was to determine farmer’s drought coping strategies both proactive and reactive responses at household level based on the field survey in Raya Azebo and Raya Chercher districts, southern Tigray, Ethiopia. Agro–climatological based 246 households were sampled from the lowlands (36), midlands (202) and highlands (8). Multinomial logit model was used to identify best drought coping strategies. Results about 24.8% of female headed and 75.2% of male headed respondents have experienced mild to extremely severe drought in the last three decades. A significant association between the various drought severity and household heads (chi–square = 9.861, df = 3, p–value < 0.05) observed. Conclusions this study concluded that collection and saving of pasture, soil and water conservation practices, and use of weather prediction information to adjust saving and farming system are best proactive drought coping strategies. Whereas, feeding of roasted cactus for livestock, borrowing loans for running small business, selling of household assets and reduction of food consumptions are the major reactive or off–farm drought coping strategies in the study area. If the responses of smallholder farmers are not well supported by the concerned bodies, the existing disaster preparedness and early warning systems in the area might be significantly affected and its impacts will be very serious on both the livelihood of local people and natural resources in the area.


2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID R. HOTCHKISS ◽  
NANCY B. MOCK ◽  
ERIC E. SEIBER

This article examines the effect of access to health infrastructure, personnel and services on children’s nutritional status in rural Nepal. Data for the study come from the 1996 Nepal Living Standards Survey, which includes individual- and household-level information on children’s nutritional status and its environmental and socioeconomic determinants, and community-level information on the availability of health care infrastructure, personnel and services. The study uses a structural modelling approach to assess the relative contributions of the health care supply environment on children’s anthropometric status via the pathway of maternal and child health (MCH) service use. The findings suggest that improvements in the availability of outreach clinics and the structural quality of the closest public facility would be expected to have statistically significant and large effects on the use of MCH services, and that increases in MCH service use would have a statistically significant impact on weight-for-age, but not weight-for-height or height-for-age. The overall impact of the heath care supply environment on nutritional status is assessed through a series of policy simulations.


Author(s):  
R. K. Dubey ◽  
Rajveer Kaur ◽  
Ravi Deepika ◽  
T. S. Dhillon

The present study was carried out in the department of Floriculture and Landscaping, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana under DST- SARTHI project, New Delhi to analyse the socio economic and nutritional status of beneficiaries selected under the project. Moreover, nutritional status of farmers recorded to also assess the association between FVS, DDS and socioeconomic status at household level. The Data on vegetable production, selling, buying and socio-economic status were collected using questionnaire developed by PAU Ludhiana. A total 100 beneficiaries from three landholding categories viz small (<5 acre), medium (5-10 acre) and large (>10 acres) in Hoshiarpur were selected. The data have been collected to check the difference in the nutrition intake of beneficiaries during the interventional period and before the intervention. Correlation of both years (before and during intervention) calculated as 0.892243. It is concluded that the previous year diet was not healthier integration of both quality and quantity in the scores but both scores (DDS& FVS) increased during intervention period through DST Project.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arjun Kumar

The 2030 agenda on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) highlights the importance of sanitation and sets the Goal #6: ‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’. While rural households in India have witnessed a marginal improvement in access to toilet facility in recent decades, they continue to face high levels of deprivation along with spatial and socio-economic disparities and exclusions, which have been highlighted in this article using data from Census of India, National Sample Surveys and Baseline Survey. Determinants of households having access to latrine facility in the house have been estimated using an econometric exercise and contribution of caste-based factors of the gap in access among various social groups have been estimated using decomposition technique on household-level information from National Sample Survey data. Households located in backward regions and belonging to the weaker sections of society, such as poor, wage labourers, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes, have been found to be the most deprived and excluded. Thus, there is an urgent need to pace up the developmental efforts for rural sanitation to achieve the SDGs, along with complementary measures to focus on backward regions, weaker sections and socio-spatial position of households in rural India.


Social Forces ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Pike

Abstract In recent decades, qualitative research from across sub-Saharan Africa has shown how young men are often unable to marry because they lack wealth and a stable livelihood. With survey data, researchers have begun to study how men’s economic circumstances are related to when they marry in the continent’s capitals and larger urban centers. However, our understanding of these dynamics outside of large cities remains limited. Drawing on longitudinal survey data, this paper examines how men’s economic standing, both at the individual and household level, relates to their marriage timing in rural and semi-urban communities in the Salima district of Malawi. The findings show that men who have higher earnings, work in agriculture, and come from a household that sold cash crops were more likely to marry. In contrast, students as well as men from households owning a large amount of land were substantially less likely to marry. Additionally, men living in the semi-urban communities were around half as likely to marry as their rural counterparts. This negative association is largely explained by the greater proportion of men who are students in towns and trading centers and also the relatively less agricultural nature of these communities. These findings show the value of considering both individual and family characteristics in studies of marriage timing and also suggest that as sub-Saharan Africa urbanizes, the age of marriage for men will likely rise.


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