Measuring child poverty in South Africa: sensitivity to the choice of equivalence scale and an updated profile
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2009
TITLE AUTHOR(S): J.C.Streak, D.Yu, S.Van der Berg
KEYWORDS: CHILDREN, POVERTY, WELL-BEING (HEALTH)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 6094
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/4575
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/4575
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
This paper offers evidence on the sensitivity of child poverty in South Africa to changes in the adult equivalence scale (AES) and updates the child poverty profile based on the Income and Expenditure Survey 2005/06. Setting the poverty line at the 40th percentile of households calculated with different AESs the scope and composition of child poverty are found to be relatively insensitive to the scale used. The rankings of children of different ages, girls versus boys, racial groupings and children living in rural versus urban areas are unaffected by choice of AES, although some provincial rankings on the poverty headcount measure are. The proportions of children and households 'correctly' identified as poor for the full range of scales is extremely high. These findings support the argument that it may be appropriate for profiling poverty in South Africa to use a poverty line based on a per capita welfare measure. For the construction of the child poverty profile, per capita income is used as the welfare indicator with the poverty line set at the 40th percentile of household. The profile suggests that poverty amongst children is more extensive than amongst the population or adults even after the massive injection of transfers into households with poor children through the child support grant. The child poverty headcount, depth and severity are all highest amongst children age 0-4 and lowest amongst those aged 15-17, who are not yet beneficiaries of the grants. They are also highest amongst African and Coloured children. Large variations across provinces remain. The analysis underlines the importance of prioritising children in the fight against poverty, particularly in their earliest years.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Children learn lessons of suffering
- Overall summary of conclusions and recommendations
- The South African index of multiple deprivation for children: census 2001
- Going to scale: a randomised community trial to determine the cost-effectiveness of alternative interventions to support highly vulnerable children and families in the context of HIV, AIDS and poverty
- A geographical profile of child deprivation in South Africa
- Improving hospital care for young children in the context of HIV/AIDS and poverty
- Poverty, AIDS and child health: identifying highest-risk children in South Africa
- Economic status, community danger and psychological problems among South African children
- Going global with indicators of child well-being: indicators of South African children's psychosocial development in the early childhood period: phase 1 & 2 report
- Defining orphaned and vulnerable children
- Spatial and temporal aspects of childhood injuries: implications for injury prevention and safety promotion
- Going global with indicators of child well-being: indicators of South African children's psychosocial development in the early childhood period: phase 3 report
- Children in difficult circumstances
- Education choices in Ethiopia: what determines whether poor households send their children to school?
- Assessing custody and placement of children
- Educational choices in Ethiopia: what determines whether poor children go to school?
- A census of orphaned and vulnerable children in two villages in Botswana
- Psychosocial issues affecting orphans and vulnerable children in two South African communities
- A census of orphans and vulnerable children in two Zimbabawean districts
- A situational analysis of orphans and vulnerable children in four districts of South Africa