News / National
Average Zimbabwean needed US$1.53 per day in October
19 Nov 2020 at 05:54hrs | Views
The average Zimbabwean needed at least $3 750 not to be considered poor in October. This translates to US$1.53 per day and this is a significant improvement from June 2020 levels of US$0.75 but still leaves citizens with low disposable income for savings.
The World Bank defines as poor, a society which lives below US$1.90 per day while it has a standard of US$3.20 for middle income countries and US$5.50 for upper middle-income countries. Zimbabwe is targeting to be an upper middle-income country by 2030 but with poverty levels and inequality rising, the target is increasingly becoming difficult to achieve.
According to data from Zimstat, the Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for one person stood at $3 750 in October while a family of five persons needed at least $18 750 from $17 956.87 in September. The TCPL for one person shows an increase of 4.4% from the $3 591.37 reported in September. Sometime this year, the United Nations Development Programme in its Human Development Index for 2019 classified 31.8% of the population as multi-dimensionally poor while an additional 27.4% are classified as vulnerable to multidimensional poverty.
The differences between the TCPL bands on the country's ten provinces has somewhat increased significantly against the national average highlighting differences in the resumption of economic activities in different provinces over the period. Due to distance and access, the highest living costs per household is still registered in Matabeleland North at $20 678.83 while Harare is at $18 743.17. Mashonaland Central remained as the poorest province as it has the lowest living cost at $17 878.83.
Zimstat conducts the TCPL survey based on 495 items and is based on the average size of households established at the last population census in 2012. The ILO recommends that the TCPL should be used as a benchmark or reference point in determining minimum wages.
The World Bank defines as poor, a society which lives below US$1.90 per day while it has a standard of US$3.20 for middle income countries and US$5.50 for upper middle-income countries. Zimbabwe is targeting to be an upper middle-income country by 2030 but with poverty levels and inequality rising, the target is increasingly becoming difficult to achieve.
According to data from Zimstat, the Total Consumption Poverty Line (TCPL) for one person stood at $3 750 in October while a family of five persons needed at least $18 750 from $17 956.87 in September. The TCPL for one person shows an increase of 4.4% from the $3 591.37 reported in September. Sometime this year, the United Nations Development Programme in its Human Development Index for 2019 classified 31.8% of the population as multi-dimensionally poor while an additional 27.4% are classified as vulnerable to multidimensional poverty.
The differences between the TCPL bands on the country's ten provinces has somewhat increased significantly against the national average highlighting differences in the resumption of economic activities in different provinces over the period. Due to distance and access, the highest living costs per household is still registered in Matabeleland North at $20 678.83 while Harare is at $18 743.17. Mashonaland Central remained as the poorest province as it has the lowest living cost at $17 878.83.
Zimstat conducts the TCPL survey based on 495 items and is based on the average size of households established at the last population census in 2012. The ILO recommends that the TCPL should be used as a benchmark or reference point in determining minimum wages.
Source - finx
