1. Measuring poverty and inequality in the Republic of Belarus Inna Konoshonok Head of the Living Standards Statistics and Household Survey Department NATIONAL STATISTICAL COMMITTEE OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

2. Measurement of poverty and inequality Measurement of poverty and inequality in the Republic of Belarus National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus Measuring poverty and inequality in the Republic of Belarus Sample Household Living Standards Survey

3. Sample Sample size - 6000 private households – 0.2% of the general population General population for the sampling procedure – the total number of households living in Belarus excluding institutional households and homeless persons Rotation – 75% of households National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

4. Sample design  Three-stage stratified probability sample  Territorial principle of sampling  Selection is carried out separately for urban and rural areas National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

5. Distribution of sample population over the territory Towns and urban-type settlements Rural localities National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

6. Survey indicators  expenditures and income  food consumption  durable goods  housing conditions  indicators reflecting other aspects of living standards National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

7. Approaches to poverty assessment  Absolute poverty – official poverty indicator  Relative poverty  Subjective poverty National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

8. Absolute poverty Statutory national poverty line – minimum subsistence budget Article 1 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus «On the minimum subsistence level in the Republic of Belarus»: low-income citizens (families) are citizens (families) with average per capita income below the minimum subsistence budget (for objective reasons) National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

9. Minimum subsistence budget Minimum subsistence level Compulsory payments and contributions food non-food goods services National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

10. Income indicator Income indicator – Income indicator – disposable resources Disposable resources money funds value of consumed home-grown produce value of in-kind benefits and payments National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

11. Relative poverty  Relative poverty line – 60% of the national average per capita equivalised median disposable resources  National equivalence scale applied National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

12. National equivalence scale  1.0  1.0 – the first adult in the household  0.8  0.8 – each other adult  0.9  0.9 – each child at the age of over 6 and under 18  0.7  0.7 – each child at the age of over 3 and under 6  0.5  0.5 – each child under 3 National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

13. Poverty indicators in the Republic of Belarus Poverty indicator Indicator value (2012), % Absolute poverty (a share of the population with income below the minimum subsistence budget) 6.36.36.36.3 Relative poverty 14.2 14.2 Subjective poverty 14.3 National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

14. Poverty indicator frequency QuarterYear Absolute poverty ++ Relative poverty + Subjective poverty ++ National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

15. Poverty indicator breakdowns  national level  regional level  urban and rural areas  socio-demographic population groups (gender, age)  types of households (household size, households with children, pensioners families) National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

16. Inequality indicators Indicator Indicator value (2012) Gini coefficient 0.285 Ratio of disposable resources of 10% groups 5.9 20% groups 4.04.04.04.0 National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

17. Material deprivation indicators  deprivations in housing conditions (living in hazardous dwellings, available housing floor space does not exceed 5 sq. meters per person )  deprivations in material well-being (lack of money for the purchase of meat and fish products, new outerwear and footwear, durable goods; inability to pay for unexpected expenses)  deprivations of households with children (lack of money for a regular purchase of fruit for children, lack of money to buy new clothing and footwear for children as they grow out of clothes, to provide them with textbooks and school supplies) National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

18. Methodological issues of compiling material deprivation list  expediency to include material deprivations which do not apply to the majority of the population  expediency to include in the general list material deprivations typical only for families with children  to define concentration of deprivations out of the basic list which are associated with poverty  to define the weight of each deprivation in the resulting final index National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

19. Future developments  Using the theory of material deprivations  Multi-dimensional poverty measurement  Measuring social benefits and subsidies National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus

20. Thank you for you attention!