Decomposing inequality and poverty in post-war Rwanda: The roles of gender, education, wealth and location

Figures & data

Table 1: Trends in Foster–Greer–Thorbecke measures of poverty, 2000 and 2005

Year	FGT(0): headcount ratio (proportion poor)	FGT(1): average normalised poverty gap	FGT(2): average squared normalised poverty gap
2000	0.60	0.25	0.13
2005	0.57	0.23	0.12

Note: All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years.

Table 2: Descriptive statistics for poor households

	2000		2005
	Mean	Standard deviation	Mean	Standard deviation
Per-capita expenditure	86 808.9	1 912.8	100 422.6	2 828.1
Male head	0.665	0.0	0.704	0.0
Female head (non-widow)	0.061	0.003	0.064	0.003
Female head (widow)	0.253	0.006	0.219	0.005
Child-headed household	0.022	0.002	0.013	0.002
Age 13 to 19 (OC)	0.013	0.002	0.009	0.001
Age 20 to 29	0.165	0.005	0.182	0.005
Age 30 to 39	0.247	0.006	0.227	0.005
Age 40+	0.575	0.007	0.582	0.006
No education (OC)	0.401	0.007	0.353	0.006
Education = 1 to 4 years	0.257	0.006	0.282	0.006
Education = 5 to 8 years	0.272	0.006	0.291	0.006
Education = 9+ years	0.069	0.003	0.075	0.003
Urban	0.099	0.004	0.164	0.004
Household size = 1 (OC)	0.042	0.003	0.039	0.002
Household size = 2 to 4	0.420	0.007	0.418	0.006
Household size = 5 to 7	0.401	0.007	0.402	0.006
Household size = 8+	0.137	0.005	0.141	0.004
Head farm labourer	0.840	0.005	0.814	0.005
Head wage worker	0.251	0.006	0.421	0.006
Household owns cattle	0.178	0.005	0.233	0.005
Household land <0.5 ha (OC)	0.569	0.007	0.593	0.006
Household land = 0.5 to 0.89 ha	0.168	0.005	0.167	0.005
Household land = 0.9 to 1.65 ha	0.163	0.005	0.139	0.004
Household land ≥1.66	0.100	0.004	0.101	0.004

Note: OC refers to omitted category in the poverty estimation. All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years.

Table 3: Household poverty estimation

Independent variable		2000	2005	Urban 2000	Urban 2005	Rural 2000	Rural 2005
Household type (OC = male head)
	Female (widowed) head	1.229*	0.992	1.24	1.203	1.221*	0.959
	Female (not widowed) head	1.29	1.34*	0.67	1.36	1.35*	1.37*
	Child head	1.6	0.6	1.6	3.5	1.6	0.3*
Age (OC = 13 to 19)
	Age 20 to 29	0.9	0.2*	0.8	1.1	0.8	0.1**
	Age 30 to 39	1.000	0.3	0.7	1.3	1	0.2*
	Age 40+	1	0.4	1.8	1.4	0.9	0.2*
Education (OC = no education)
	Education = 1 to 4 years	0.7***	0.8***	0.5*	0.6*	0.8**	0.8**
	Education = 5 to 8 years	0.4***	0.5***	0.3***	0.3***	0.4***	0.5***
	Education = 9+ years	0.1***	0.1***	0.1***	0.0***	0.1***	0.2***
Urban residence		0.1***	0.4***	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Household size (OC = 1)
	Household size = 2 to 4	3.2***	4.0***	2.1	4.4***	3.1***	4.0***
	Household size = 5 to 7	8.0***	8.4***	4.1*	9.9***	8.1***	8.4***
	Household size = 8+	14.3***	11.2***	5.3*	12.2***	14.8***	11.4***
Household head farm labourer		1.6***	1.4***	3.7***	2.4***	1.4**	1.2
Household head waged worker		1	1.6***	0.6	1.6**	1	1.6***
Own cattle		0.3***	0.4***	0.2*	0.4***	0.3***	0.4***
Owns land (OC <0.5 ha)
	Household land = 0.5 to 0.89 ha	0.7***	0.7***	0.7	0.8	0.7***	0.6***
	Household land = 0.9 to 1.65 ha	0.5***	0.6***	0.5	0.5*	0.5***	0.6***
	Household land ≥1.66	0.3***	0.3***	0.3*	0.4**	0.3***	0.3***
Migrant (household head lived away >6 months)		1.2	0.90	0.6	0.90	1.2	0.90
Butare		2.2***	6.8***	1.7	3.6***	2.3***	3.6***
Byumba		1.5	5.0***	0.7	5.9***	1.5**	2.3***
Cyangugu		1.1	3.5***	0.5	3.2**	1.2	1.6**
Gikongoro		2.8***	10.2***	2.7	11.2***	2.9***	4.7***
Gisenyi		0.9	3.2***	1.1	3.5***	0.9	1.5**
Gitarama		1.3	3.7***	1.7	3.9***	1.3	1.7***
Kibungo		0.9	2.7***	1.1	2.9**	0.9	1.3
Kibuye		2.0**	4.7***	0.5	1.3	2.1***	2.5***
Kigali ngali		1.9**	2.3***	0.3	1.9*	2.0***	1.1
Ruhengeri		1.7*	4.6***	1.7	2.7*	1.8***	2.3***
Umutara		1	2.0***	–	–	–	–
Number of observations		6 404	6 895	1 149	1 618	5 255	5 277

Note: OC refers to omitted category. Umutara dropped in urban and rural model due to too few observations. All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years, except the number of observations, which is the sample size.

*** Significant at 1%; ** Significant at 5%; * Significant at 10%.

Table 4: Poverty decomposition by gender and age of household head

	Population share (%)		Poverty rates (%)		Mean poverty gap/poor		Poverty share by household type (%)
Household type	2000	2005	2000	2005	2000	2005	2000	2005
Male headed	71.7	75.7	58.2	55.8	25 929.6	25 071.2	69.0	74.3
Female headed (non-widows)	5.0	4.9	58.7	61.4	26 942.5	27 348.9	4.8	5.3
Female headed (widows)	22.0	18.7	68.1	59.9	28 413.5	27 211.1	24.8	19.7
Child headed (age <21)	1.3	0.7	61.7	56.9	25 205.8	27 345.2	1.3	0.7

Note: All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years.

Table 5: Poverty decomposition by urban/rural residence

	Population share (%)		Poverty rates (%)		Mean poverty gap/poor		Poverty share by region (%)
Region	2000	2005	2000	2005	2000	2005	2000	2005
Urban	10.5	16.6	13.4	28.7	18 118.1	22 856.3	2.3	8.4
Rural	89.5	83.4	65.9	62.5	26 786.9	25 881.6	97.7	91.6

Note: All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years.

Table 6: Poverty decomposition by province

	Population share (%)		Poverty rates (by province) (%)		Mean poverty gap/poor		Poverty share by province (%)
Province	2000	2005	2000	2005	2000	2005	2000	2005
Butare	8.2	9.2	73.5	70.6	27 724.8	29 283.5	10.0	11.4
Byumba	9.5	8.3	64.7	67.2	25 914.1	25 199.6	10.2	9.9
Cyangugu	7.6	6.8	63.9	61.4	28 730.5	27 392.0	8.0	7.3
Gikongoro	6.3	6.5	76.1	79.2	29 986.7	30 785.3	8.0	9.1
Gisenyi	9.5	10.6	54.9	61.8	24 203.8	26 522.5	8.7	11.5
Gitarama	10.5	9.9	53.8	56.5	24 073.9	21 810.1	9.4	9.9
Kibungo	8.2	9.2	52.9	50.3	23 108.4	23 434.8	7.2	8.1
Kibuye	5.7	5.9	73.1	64.5	24 553.0	25 533.6	6.9	6.7
Kigali Ngali	11.4	10.2	69.4	46.5	29 854.2	23 338.7	13.1	8.4
Kigali Urban	7.4	7.4	11.8	13.0	17 138.5	18 774.3	1.4	1.7
Ruhengeri	11.7	10.0	71.2	64.5	27 043.3	25 910.0	13.7	11.3
Umutara	3.9	5.9	53.1	45.4	26 295.6	20 581.4	3.4	4.7

Note: All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years.

Figure 1: Correlates of poverty growth by province, 2000 to 2005

Figure 2: The Lorenz Curve, 2000 and 2005

Figure 3: Consumption growth by decile

Table 7: Descriptive statistics

	2000		2005
	Mean	Standard deviation	Mean	Standard deviation
Log per-capita expenditure	11.0	0.0	11.1	0.0
Male head	0.665	0.0	0.704	0.0
Female head (non-widow)	0.061	0.003	0.064	0.003
Female head (widow)	0.253	0.006	0.219	0.005
Age	43.905	0.210	44.270	0.195
Education	3.051	0.045	3.283	0.041
Urban	0.099	0.004	0.165	0.004
Household size	4.956	0.032	5.000	0.029
Head farm labourer	0.840	0.005	0.814	0.005
Head wage worker	0.251	0.006	0.421	0.006
Household member wage worker	0.508	0.012	0.905	0.013
Household cattle	0.527	0.034	0.670	0.042
Household land	0.693	0.021	0.755	0.019
Dependency ratio	0.982	0.012	0.903	0.010
Transfers in	0.609	0.007	0.768	0.005
Transfers out	0.621	0.007	0.787	0.005
Debt	0.403	0.007	0.579	0.006
Savings	0.212	0.006	0.444	0.006

Note: All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years.

Table 8: Household expenditure estimation

Independent variables	2000	2005	Urban 2000	Urban 2005	Rural 2000	Rural 2005
Female-headed widow household	–0.071***	–0.028	0.131	–0.024	–0.074*	–0.116**
Female-headed non-widow household	–0.045	–0.083*	–0.155**	–0.048	–0.069**	–0.032
Age	0.001	–0.001	0.004*	–0.001	0.001	–0.001
Education	0.057***	0.066***	0.080***	0.086***	0.049***	0.051***
Urban residence	0.810***	0.416***	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Household size	–0.086***	–0.069***	–0.088***	–0.083***	–0.086***	–0.067***
Household head farm labourer	–0.149***	–0.105***	–0.339***	–0.289***	–0.116**	–0.006
Household head waged worker	–0.009	–0.132***	–0.124*	–0.261***	0.036	–0.087***
Household member wage worker	0.015	–0.008	0.143***	0.106***	–0.028	–0.051***
Cattle	0.015***	0.009**	0.010*	0.021***	0.016***	0.008**
Land	0.041*	0.072***	0.043*	0.045***	0.043*	0.082***
Dependency ratio	–0.085***	–0.154***	–0.105***	–0.147***	–0.081***	–0.151***
Received transfers in cash or kind	–0.092***	–0.030	–0.101*	–0.037	–0.089***	–0.016
Sent transfers in cash or kind	0.313***	0.260***	0.319***	0.153***	0.309***	0.289***
Debt	–0.027	0.020	–0.077	0.023	–0.016	0.021
Savings	0.304***	0.308***	0.182***	0.514***	0.310***	0.253***
Butare	–0.211***	–0.622***	–0.064	–0.284***	–0.244***	–0.004
Byumba	–0.111*	–0.655***	0.089	–0.574***	–0.139**	0.006
Cyangugu	–0.046	–0.516***	0.272	–0.126	–0.084	0.121**
Gikongoro	–0.392***	–0.830***	–0.219	–0.668***	–0.426***	–0.181***
Gisenyi	0.072	–0.480***	0.026	–0.437***	0.038	0.172***
Gitarama	–0.048	–0.495***	–0.280**	–0.366***	–0.066	0.164***
Kibungo	0.025	–0.396***	–0.082	–0.298***	0.003	0.258***
Kibuye	–0.146**	–0.637***	0.131	–0.371***	–0.188***	0
Kigali ngali	–0.193***	–0.375***	–0.032	–0.285***	–0.238***	0.283***
Ruhengeri	–0.268***	–0.615***	–0.052	–0.275***	–0.295***	0.006
Umutara	0.037	–0.305***	0.359	–0.1	0	0.331***
Constant	11.210***	11.570***	11.782***	11.832***	11.237***	10.870***
R^2	0.465	0.433	0.511	0.6	0.293	0.294
Degrees of freedom	6 374	6 865	1 122	1 591	5 227	5 249
Number of observations	6 402	6 893	1 149	1 618	5 253	5 275

Note: All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years.

*** Significant at 1%; ** Significant at 5%; * Significant at 10%.

Table 9 Regression-based decomposition of inequality

	Proportion of explained inequality		Proportion of explained inequality		Proportion of explained inequality
Independent variable	2000	2005	Urban 2000	Urban 2005	Rural 2000	Rural 2005
Female-headed widow household	1.0	0.2	3.6	0.6	1.5	0.3
Female-headed non-widow household	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.0	0.1	0.5
Age	–0.7	0.5	–2.6	0.8	–0.7	0.5
Education	22.1	25.5	46.9	38.8	19.0	17.8
Urban residence	31.0	15.7	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Household size	8.6	5.5	9.5	3.3	20.3	10.4
Household head farm labourer	5.3	3.0	9.4	9.1	1.1	0.0
Household head waged worker	–0.2	0.8	–3.7	–2.5	0.1	2.7
Household member wage worker	0.5	0.0	11.2	5.8	0.3	3.4
Cattle	1.3	0.9	0.5	1.4	3.4	1.7
Land	1.0	3.7	–0.3	0.1	4.7	12.4
Dependency ratio	4.4	7.8	5.5	5.0	7.5	11.6
Received transfers in cash or kind	1.4	0.1	0.7	0.2	–0.2	–0.1
Sent transfers in cash or kind	6.0	3.5	10.9	2.0	16.5	10.5
Debt	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.3
Savings	9.4	12.3	6.4	21.3	13.6	13.9
Province	8.7	20.4	1.7	14.0	12.8	14.1

Note: All figures are calculated using household-level weights and so should be nationally representative of all households in Rwanda for survey years.