An Analysis of Poverty at the Local Level

Using primary data from a union council of Punjab (Dhamyal), this article analyses the poverty and inequality at the lower administrative level. The analysis shows that 35 percent of the households are poor while there is wide variation of incidence of poverty among the seven villages of the union council. The highest magnitude of poverty in terms of incidence, intensity, and severity is found in the villages of Hayal and Mohra Bariyan. Location index also demonstrates that these two villages have high concentration of poverty as compared to its population share in the community. Income distribution by quintile shows that the bottom 20 percent households receive 6.7 percent of per capita income share while the upper 20 percent households receive 43 percent of per capita income share. Socio-economic dimensions of poverty reveal that a large number of earners, with large household size, a high dependency ratio, and a high percentage of illiterate head of the household, are marked in poor households. The housing and sanitation conditions of the community show that both poor and non-poor households are deprived of most civic amenities