Resource information
This paper analyzes poverty in Haiti
based on the first Living Conditions Survey of 7,186
households covering the whole country and representative at
the regional level. Using a USD1 a day extreme poverty line,
the analysis reveals that 49 percent of Haitian households
live in absolute poverty. Twenty, 56, and 58 percent of
households in metropolitan, urban, and rural areas,
respectively, are poor. At the regional level, poverty is
especially extensive in the northeastern and northwestern
regions. Access to assets such as education and
infrastructure services is highly unequal and strongly
correlated with poverty. Moreover, children in indigent
households attain less education than children in nonpoor
households. Controlling for individual and household
characteristics, location, and region, living in a rural
area does not by itself affect the probability of being
poor. But in rural areas female headed households are more
likely to experience poverty than male headed households.
Domestic migration and education are both key factors that
reduce the likelihood of falling into poverty. Employment is
essential to improve livelihoods and both the farm and
nonfarm sector play a key role.
