Household Socio economic Characteristics and Poverty in Tanzania

Abstract

Reducing poverty for rural households represents the most challenging goal within the overall agenda of poverty reduction in developing countries. It is challenging, because of its sheer magnitude, with the absolute number of rural households in poverty reaching new appalling records every year. The incidence and depth of poverty in developing countries pose a threat to the survival of rural households despite efforts deployed to reduce it. This study was carried out to determine the relationships between key socio-economic characteristics of the rural households and poverty. Poverty was defined in terms of low level of possessions of durable assets and its alleviation would be characterized by a substantial increase in the possession of such durables. A cross-sectional survey was employed and covered 120 households. The results revealed that poverty was related to low level of education and income, occupation and the quality of food consumed. However, there was no significance relationship between poverty and landholding. Since farming was found to be a risk factor for poverty, non-farm activities should be promoted while at the same time creating an enabling environment that would increase community access to factors of production notably capital.