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Assessing the Impact of Population Dynamics on Poverty Measures: A Decomposition Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Paul S. F. Yip

    (The University of Hong Kong
    The University of Hong Kong)

  • Jacky H. K. Wong

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Billy Y. G. Li

    (Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)

  • Yi Zhang

    (The University of Hong Kong
    The University of Hong Kong)

  • Chi Leung Kwok

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Meng Ni Chen

    (The University of Hong Kong)

Abstract

Reducing income inequality is one of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals recently announced by United Nations. A relative poverty concept adopted by Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries is that a household is defined as poor if the household income is below 50 % of the household size-specific median household income. By delineating the impact of different factors relating to poverty measures help to develop more focused efforts in alleviating poverty. The paper uses a decomposition analysis to examine the impact of population dynamics on changes in poverty measures in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, over the period 2009–2014. The poverty rate, size, and gap are separately considered in the analysis. Decomposing the changes in poverty rate and size shows that demographic trends in the whole population (ageing and shrinking household size and population growth) contributed to the rise in the respective measures even though the overall poverty rate had declined during 2009–2014. For the decomposition of the change in the monthly total poverty gap, the majority of the overall increase was contributed by increases in the average gap within subgroups, with only a small contribution made by changes in age and household size within the poor population. The effectiveness of recurrent cash intervention by the Hong Kong government in poverty alleviation is assessed, and its positive impact in reducing poverty rate, size and gap is verified. The limitations in the use of the relative poverty line are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul S. F. Yip & Jacky H. K. Wong & Billy Y. G. Li & Yi Zhang & Chi Leung Kwok & Meng Ni Chen, 2017. "Assessing the Impact of Population Dynamics on Poverty Measures: A Decomposition Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 531-545, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:134:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11205-016-1434-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-016-1434-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Siu Fai Yip & Yunyu Xiao & Clifford Long Hin Wong & Terry Kit Fong Au, 2020. "Is there gender bias in research grant success in social sciences?: Hong Kong as a case study," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.

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