Pauvreté et choix méthodologiques : le cas de la Mauritanie

The measure of the poverty in Mauritania is considerably influenced by methodological choice. While a monetary poverty line of 370 dollars generates a ratio of poverty of households of 51,4 per cent, the cost of basis needs approach induces an impact of the national poverty of only 41,5per cent, and modifies appreciably the configuration ofpoverty profiles. Furthermore, if the introduction of a scale of equivalence whose value is inferior to one, does not modify really the extent the poverty - in terms of households as compared to the approach of the cost of basis needs -, it decreases relatively the impact and the depth of the urban poverty and, especially, tends to modify the relationship between the poverty and the gender. In addition, relatively to the international threshold of 370 dollars, thebasis needs approach suggests an appreciably highest decline of the poverty in the course of the period 1990 _ 96 : _34,9 per cent - against _19,8 - , result inferior to that that prevails when the line of poverty extreme is introduced - _40,4 per cent. Finally, objections formulated against the monetary poverty approach suggest a measure of the deficit of the social progress with the help of non monetary indicators. In this context, the human poverty indicator of UNDP shows, according to regions andwilayas, a proximity of the monetary poverty rate and the general degree of human poverty, although these two magnitudes are not really comparable and that many disparities subsist. In fact, the two indicators appear complementary, and each has a particular role in terms of economic policy. Consequently, the present study suggests the opportunity of a multidimensional approach of the poverty to order social states in Mauritania. (Full text in French)