Household characteristics and poverty : a logistic regression analysis

Poverty being multi-dimensional in nature is the product of various interactive socioeconomic factors. Some of the factors shaping economic status of the household may be cited as widowhood, disability, illiteracy, ageing, household size, household status, dependency, low wages of the female workers, household responsibilities etc. Theory suggests that the ability of a household to earn a given level of income is to a great extent determined by the characteristics internal to the household. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that explain their relative effect on poverty of the household. Poverty thus captured at micro level is expected to provide insights for polices to alleviate poverty at national level. The standard econometric method of logistic regression technique has been used to determine the extent to which the factors influence the probability of a household being poor. The paper is based on data obtained from a sample survey conducted in Bangladesh during 2008-09.