Resource information
This report on the Poverty Assessment
Update of Egypt is a contribution to the strategy of poverty
alleviation pursued by the Government of Egypt. Using data
from the two household surveys in 2000 and 2005, this report
assesses the nature and dimensions of poverty in Egypt, and
discusses the role of macroeconomic policies and labor
markets in improving living standards. The report updates
the findings of "Poverty Reduction in Egypt: Diagnosis
and Strategy," published by the World Bank in 2002.
Over the last two years Egypt has achieved remarkably high
economic growth. Should this turnaround be sustained, there
is hope that poverty can be dramatically reduced. Even
though the report does not cover this most recent period, it
is important to learn from the lessons of the recent past,
and the report provides new information and insights that
could be useful for policy-makers: 1) It identifies the
overall scope and trends in poverty between 2000 and 2005,
focusing on material aspects, but also assessing progress in
non-income dimensions; 2) It isolates key correlates to
poverty and economic vulnerability, providing detailed
analysis of how inflation affected the poor in this period;
3) It links the labor market's developments with
changes in living standards and poverty; and 4) It provides
the analytical base for mapping poverty in Egypt, which can
improve the targeting of social programs. The first chapter
examines the evolution of living standards in Egypt during
the period of analysis - 2000 to 2005. It also gives the
details of the poverty map and where the poor live. Chapter
2 describes who the poor are and provides the poverty
correlates: looking at the characteristics of the poor and
the relation of these characteristics to education (and
access to education), employment, gender, age, or asset
characteristics. Chapter 3 continues by providing some
background on economic developments between 2000 and 2005
and identifies possible areas of policy interventions in
light of economic and social policies and developments after
2005. Chapter 4 offers in-depth analysis of the labor market
to attempt to discern longer-term trends in living
standards, and links employment with poverty levels.
Finally, Chapter 5 looks at the capacity of the monitoring
system, and lays the foundations for a future analytical program.
