Population Reports' Q&As

Meeting the Urban Challenge

The Urban Poor

Why should income-based poverty statistics, especially urban poverty statistics, be interpreted cautiously?

The true extent of urban poverty is greater than income-based poverty statistics suggest. Poverty levels estimated on the basis of income alone do not account adequately for the larger numbers of people with such impoverishment as inadequate housing and lack of clean water and sanitation (74, 89, 132). Moreover, urban poverty may be even more debilitating than rural poverty because in urban areas, unlike rural areas, access to virtually all goods and services depends on having a cash income. Furthermore, services that governments usually provide free in rural areas, such as schooling, usually carry costs for households in urban areas-for example, school fees and expenditures for school uniforms, books, and transportation (3, 104). Urban residents have to buy most of their food, while rural residents grow a substantial portion of their own food, and food prices often are higher in urban areas than in the countryside. Urban households spend 60% to 80% of their income on food (101) and pay up to 30% more for it than rural households (1).

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