Poverty datum line increases by 1%

The International Labour Organisation recommends that the PDL should be used as a benchmark or reference point in determining minimum wages.

This means an average person in Zimbabwe survives on US$1,16 per day.

The World Bank defines poverty in absolute terms and extreme poverty as living on less than US$1,25 per day, and moderate poverty as less than US$2 a day.

The country’s poverty datum line for an average of five persons per household stood at US$541 in March, a growth of US1,14 percent from the February figure of US$535 and shows an increase of 1,2 percent from US$534 in the comparable year ago period.

The poverty line is the threshold below which families or individuals are considered to be lacking the resources to meet the basic needs for healthy living; in other words, having insufficient income to provide the food, shelter and clothing needed to preserve health.

The total consumption poverty line (TCPL) for an average household in the period ranged from US$473 in Mash Central to US$618 in Mat South. Zimstat says this is explained by the differences in average prices in the provinces.

The TCPL for one person stood at US$108, an increase of 1,14 percent from February and a 1,2 percent increase year on year after food prices rose following the increase in fuel duty by the Finance minister. This means that an individual required that much to purchase both non-food and food items as at March 2013 in order not to be deemed poor

The Food Poverty Line (FPL) for a family of five was at $174, a decrease of 1 percent on a monthly basis and an increase of 5,5 percent on annual basis.

No details of the items included in the index are provided in the ZimStat figures, but the differences in costs between different parts of the country are shown. Compared to US$541,04, the average cost for the basic requirements for a family of five for the whole country, the figure for Harare is US$571.94, for Bulawayo US$538,82, for Masvingo US$561,38 and for Manicaland US$510,42. The highest figure for the country is Matabeleland North at $618.14, followed by Mat South at US$588,43 and the lowest is Mashonaland Central US$472,62.

Generally, consumption is the preferred welfare indicator for a number of reasons. Income is generally more difficult to measure accurately. For example, the poor who work in the informal sector may not receive or report monetary wages; self-employed workers often experience irregular income flows; and many people in rural areas depend on agricultural incomes. Moreover, consumption accords better with the idea of the standard of living than income, which can vary over time even if the actual standard of living does not.