Title:Indicators of relative poverty, Republic of Mauritius -1996/97, 2001/02, 2006/07, 2012 and 2017 

Description:
Prior to 2012, Year refers to the respective financial year ending June
As from 2012, figures refer to calendar year.

The figures for year 2017 are provisional.

Source: Household Budget Survey (HBS)
HBS is a dedicated survey on income and expenditure conducted every five years.

Concepts and Definitions 

1. Relative poverty line 
  It is defined in terms of the poverty of a lower income group relative to a higher income group;
  It is set at 50% of the median monthly household income per adult equivalent.  
  Households with monthly income per adult equivalent below this poverty line are considered to be in relative poverty.

2. Households 
  A household is either:
         (i) a one-person household, i.e., a person who makes provision for his own food or other essentials for living without combining
             with any other person to form part of a multi-person household; or
        (ii) a multi person household, i.e, a group of two or more persons living together to make common provision for food or other 
             essentials for living.  The person in the group may pool their incomes and have a common budget to a greater or lesser 
             extent: they may be related or unrelated persons or a combination of both.

3. Household resources
  For poverty analysis, it is defined as the sum of  disposable income and imputed rent i.e. the rental value of houses of
  non-renting households.

4. Disposable income 
  It comprises income from employment, transfers, property, and income obtained from own produced goods; it excludes
 compulsory deductions such as income tax (PAYE) and contributions to pension and social security schemes.

5. Adult equivalent 
  The number of adult equivalents (E) in a household is determined according to the Bank and Johnson's equivalence scale as follows:
  E = (A+0.7C)^0.7,
      where 
                 A = No. of adults
                 C = No. of children (< 16 years)
  e.g. A household of 2 adults and 2 children =  2.4 adult equivalents

6. Poverty rate / Head count ratio
   Poverty rate or headcount ratio can be defined in terms of persons or households.  It is the proportion of 'poor'  persons or households
   living below the poverty line, i.e  (Number of poor persons or households / Total number of persons or households) x100

7. Income gap ratio (IGR)  
   It is a measure of the depth of poverty; it is the difference between the poverty line and the mean income of the poor expressed as a ratio
   of the poverty line, as follows:

    IGR   =   (Poverty line  -   Average income of poor)/ Poverty line

8. Poverty gap ratio (PGR)
   It is a measurement of both the extent and depth of poverty; it considers both the number of poor people and how poor they are.   

   Poverty gap ratio = Poverty rate X Income gap ratio

   It also indicates the total amount of money needed to bring all the poor out of poverty.

   Amount in Rs = PGR X Poverty line (Rs)X Number of adult equivalents in the population

Additional information on poverty in Mauritius can be accessed at the following URL:
http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/English/StatsbySubj/Pages/Poverty.aspx

Themes:Poverty

Publishing Body:Statistics Mauritius

Tags:Poverty

Contact Email: crughoobur@govmu.org

Last Update: 28th April 2020