From Rags to Riches: Assessing poverty and vulnerability in urban Nepal

Abstract

Urbanisation brings with it rapid socioeconomic change with volatile livelihoods and unstable ownership of assets. Yet, current measures of wealth are based predominantly on static livelihoods found in rural areas. We sought to assess the extent to which seven common measures of wealth appropriately capture vulnerability to poverty in urban areas. We then sought to develop a measure that captures the characteristics of one urban area in Nepal. We collected and analysed data from 1,180 households collected during a survey conducted between November 2017 and January 2018 and designed to be representative of the Kathmandu valley. A separate survey of a sub set of households was conducted using participatory qualitative methods in slum and non-slum neighbourhoods. A series of currently used indices of deprivation were calculated from questionnaire data. We used bivariate statistical methods to examine the association between each index and identify characteristics of poor and non-poor. Qualitative data was used to identify characteristics of poverty from the perspective of urban poor communities which were used to construct an Urban Poverty Index that combined asset and consumption focused context specific measures of poverty that could be proxied by easily measured indicators as assessed through multivariate modelling. We found a strong but not perfect association between each measure of poverty. There was disagreement when comparing the consumption and deprivation index on the classification of 19% of the sample. Choice of short-term monetary and longerterm capital approaches accounted for much of the difference. Those who reported migrating due to economic necessity were most likely to be categorised as poor. A combined index was developed to capture these dimension of poverty and understand urban vulnerability. A second version of the index was constructed that can be computed using a smaller range of variables to identify those in poverty. Current measures may hide important aspects of urban poverty. Those who migrate out of economic necessity are particularly vulnerable. A composite index of socioeconomic status helps to capture the complex nature of economic vulnerability.

Addressing Unintentional Exclusion of Vulnerable and Mobile Households in Traditional Surveys in Kathmandu, Dhaka, and Hanoi: a Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study

“…Household characteristics included building type, member configuration, migration status of household head, slum household, and urban poverty index (UPI) [ 46 ]. Individual characteristics included age-gender groups, employment status, marital status, and highest level of education.…”

"Domains of Deprivation Framework" for Mapping Slums, Informal Settlements, and Other Deprived Areas in LMICs to Improve Urban Planning and Policy: A Scoping Review

“…Few frameworks have been developed for application in a Global or Global South context. Fukuda et al, 2007;Baud et al, 2008;Ling, 2009;Baud et al, 2009;Tipayamongkholgul et al, 2013;Chen & Wang, 2015;Mahadevan & Hoang, 2016;Webster et al, 2016;Chowdhury & Mukhopadhaya, 2016;Akter & Rahman, 2017;Ge et al, 2017;Manap et al, 2017;Wan & Su, 2017;Wu & Qi, 2017;Zakaria et al, 2017;Mitra & Nagar, 2018;Saif-Ur-Rahman et al, 2018;Bag & Seth, 2018;Yuan et al, 2018;Ajami et al, 2019;Pairan et al, 2019;Chen et al, 2019;Gao & Sun, 2020;Ensor et al, 2020 Europe & Central Asia 28.7 Jarman, 1983Jarman, , 2001Kearns, Gibb & Mackay, 2000;Bradshaw & Finch, 2003;Harris & Longley, 2004;Jordan et al, 2004;Scottish Executive, 2004Niggebrugge et al, 2005;Noble et al, 2006;Eroǧlu, 2007;Havard et al, 2008;European Commission, 2010;Marí-Dell'Olmo et al, 2011;Martínez & Lechuga, 2012;Payne & Abel, 2012;Bayram et al, 2012;…”

“Domains of Deprivation Framework” for Mapping Slums, Informal Settlements, and Other Deprived Areas in LMICs to Improve Urban Planning and Policy: A Scoping Review

“…Few frameworks have been developed for application in a Global or Global South context. (Fukuda et al, 2007;Baud et al, 2008;Ling, 2009;Baud et al, 2009 Bag & Seth, 2018; Yuan et al, 2018;Ajami et al, 2019;Pairan et al, 2019;Chen et al, 2019;Gao & Sun, 2020;Ensor et al, 2020) Europe & Central Asia 28. 4 Jarman, 19834 Jarman, , 2001Kearns, Gibb & Mackay, 2000;Bradshaw & Finch, 2003;Harris & Longley, 2004;Jordan et al, 2004;Scottish Executive, 2004Niggebrugge et al, 2005;Noble et al, 2006;Eskandrani, 2007;Eroǧlu, 2007;Havard et al, 2008;European Commision, 2010;Marí-Dell'Olmo et al, 2011;Martínez & Lechuga, 2012;Payne & Abel, 2012;Bayram et al, 2012;Coromaldi & Zoli, 2012;Bocquier et al, 2013;Alguacil & Camacho, 2014;DCLG, 2015;Guillaume et al, 2016;Jacobsen, 2016;Arribas-Bel, Patino & Duque, 2017;Swiader et al, 2017;Cornado et al, 2017;Ministerio de Fomento, 2018;Venerandi et al, 2018;Abarca-Alvarez et al, 2019;Mclennan et al, 2019;Page et al, 2019;…”