An Analytical Study of Determinants of Poverty Level among Households in Adamawa North District, Nigeria

Abstract

The study focused on analysis of poverty determinants among households in Adamawa North Senatorial District. Primary data were generated through structured questionnaire and interview. Using a multistage sampling approach, a total of 400 households were selected and interviewed. Data collected were subjected to Foster Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) and linear regression analysis. Considering some poverty indicators, the study revealed that using the FGT model of assessment, 86.3 percent of the households covered by the study were poor and would have to mobilize financial resources up to 41.80% of $2 US (N300) per day (for each household member) to be able to escape poverty. Result of linear regression also showed that coefficients of educational levels of household, occupation, energy of household are 0.068, 0.36 and 0.25 respectively, while dependency ratio, sources of water, poor feeding shown inverse relationship of -0.19, -0.10, -0.19 respectively. These are factors that exert significant influence on household per capita income in the study area. In order to reduce poverty and promote peoples’ income, policies that would promote employment opportunities, educational status of household, as well as efforts to enhance women access to more productive resources and investment in infrastructural development are recommended.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n16p73