The State and Path of Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: some Preliminary Results

Abstract

This paper provides estimates on the state and path of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) using recent information on income distribution. The results are reported for the rural and urban sectors and aggregated for the national level. According to the results, about 59% of the rural population was living under a poverty line of US$311 per person per annum and about 43% of the urban population was living under a poverty line of US$521 per person per annum. Overall, 54% of the population of SSA was living under poverty during the first half of the 1990s. In addition to this widespread poverty, it is also shown that poverty is deep and severe. The paper also looks at changes in poverty over time in terms of growth and distribution components. Revisiting the standard decomposition methodology, four country cases are analysed in which it is shown that poverty has increased (declined) in the countries where inequality increased (declined). More work is called for in this respect, as information over time becomes available.