Abstract
Using micro data from the 2010 National Survey on Households’ Budget, Consumption and Standard of Living, this study aims to investigate main factors contributing to poverty distribution, one of the most severe socioeconomic problems in Tunisia. To this end, we use a multilevel Logit model and a multilevel mixed linear model to simultaneously analyze the micro-level (household) and macro-level (governorate) factors that might affect the household poverty status. Household size, household composition, occupation, education levels, the gender of the household head and the number of earner by household variables were assessed at the micro-level. Unemployment rate, poverty rate, industrial and agriculture parts and the migration are included to control the effect of contextual effects. Our findings showed that the likelihood of household being poor is positively and significantly related to household size, more children and lower education level. Extreme poverty is more likely to occur in rural than urban areas. Macro-level analyses indicated that greater neighbourhood unemployment rate was associated with higher odds of poverty, while greater industrial agglomeration and migration balance were associated with reduced odds of poverty.
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Notes
According the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), the headcount poverty rate declined from 32.4% in 2000, to 23.3% in 2005 and then to 15.5% in 2010. Those statistics are based on National Survey on Household Budget, Consumption and Standard of Living conducted by the NIS. The first survey was conducted in 1968, and starting 1975, it was conducted every five years.
Greater Tunis, North East, and Center East are considered leading areas while the North West, Center West, South East, and South West are considered lagging areas.
AfDB (2012) Tunisia: Economic and Social Challenges Beyond the Revolution.
Enquête Nationale sur le Budget, la Consommation et le Niveau de Vie des ménages.
The 2010 and 2005 National Survey on Households’ Budget, Consumption and Standard of Living can be downloaded from the National Institute of Statistics (www.ins.nat.tn) or from the Economic Research Forum data portal: (www.erfdataportal.com).
See http://www.ins.nat.tn for more details.
For more details, see “Measuring poverty, Inequality and polarization in Tunisia 2000–2010” (NIS and AfDB, 2012).
Preliminary report to the Commission on Human Rights on ‘Human Rights and Extreme Poverty’ (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/16).
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Amara, M., Jemmali, H. Household and Contextual Indicators of Poverty in Tunisia: A Multilevel Analysis. Soc Indic Res 137, 113–138 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1602-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-017-1602-8