I.
Introduction
FAO, being an organization dealing with food
and agricultural development, is directly interested
in poverty statistics. As part of an earlier
programme for the development of socio-economic
indicators for monitoring and evaluation of
agrarian reform and rural development, FAO had
issued specific guidelines for countries regarding
the measurement of the prevalence of poverty.
On the other hand, FAO has been directly involved
in the estimation of the prevalence of food
inadequacy (undernutrition) which is closely
related to the prevalence of poverty. The activities
relating to these two subjects are briefly highlighted
in this note.
II. The Prevalence of
Poverty
The Programme of Action adopted by the World
Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
(WCARRD) recommended that countries
"collect on a regular basis data and
develop appropriate indicators on a number of
specific items pertaining to the progress of
agrarian reform and rural development;"
The Programme of Action also recommended that
the UN organizations with FAO as the lead agency
consider the adoption of specific measures to
assist countries in these tasks. In this connection
guidelines relating to a number of socio-economic
indicators were prepared. Among these indicators
there is one that specifically refers to the
prevalence of poverty: the "percentage of population
in households with per capita income below the
poverty line". A detailed description of this
indicator including the key methodological considerations
as well as the data sources can be found in
pages 16-19 of the document "Guidelines on
Socio-Economic Indicators for Monitoring and
Evaluating Agrarian Reform and Rural Development"
FAO (1988).
III. The Prevalence of
Food Inadequacy (Undernutrition)
FAO, mainly in connection with its periodic
World Food Surveys, prepares estimates of the
proportion and number of persons with inadequate
food (undernutrition) for the developing countries.
This measure involves the comparison of household
food consumption (expressed in terms of calories
per person/day) with a minimum dietary energy
requirement (also expressed in terms of calories
per person/day) and the classification of the
individuals in the households with per caput
calorie consumption levels below the minimum
requirement as being in the undernourished category.
The proportion is expressed in mathematical
terms as follows:
where x refers to household per caput calorie
consumption, f(x) to the frequency distribution
of x in the population and c is the minimum
dietary energy requirement level (cut-off point).
The methodology is therefore analogous to that
of the prevalence of poverty where x is taken
to represent household per caput income/expenditure
and c the poverty line.
Thus, for the purpose of estimating the prevalence
of food inadequacy (undernutrition) it is necessary
to derive a) the frequency distribution of household
per caput calorie consumption and b) the cut-off
point. The source of basic data for the distribution
of per caput calorie consumption is household
income/consumption/expenditure surveys collecting
data on the quantities of food items purchased
or acquired by households. However, for the
purpose of deriving the distribution of household
per caput calorie consumption, it is necessary
to convert the individual quantities of food
items corresponding to each of the households
sampled into their dietary energy (calorie)
equivalents. The cut-off point is on the other
hand derived on the basis of energy requirement
norms that are adapted to country specific body-weight
standards by sex-age groups and then aggregated
taking into account the sex-age distribution
of the population.
Data on the distribution of household per caput
calorie consumption, which are available for
a few countries only, usually refer to different
time points across countries. On the other hand
estimates of the national average per caput
calorie consumption, derived through the FAO
food balance sheets, are available on annual
basis for practically all countries. In view
of this, FAO has developed a methodology that
combines the food balance sheet estimate of
average calorie consumption level with a measure
of the inequality in the distribution among
households to generate the frequency distribution
of household per caput calorie consumption corresponding
to common reference periods for the developing
countries. This assumes that the distribution
of household per caput calorie consumption is
log-normal so that it can be determined on the
basis of two measures: the mean and the co-efficient
of variation. In this connection the food balance
sheet average per caput calorie consumption
estimate is taken to reflect the mean and the
co-efficient of variation is estimated either
directly on the basis of the available survey
data referring to distribution of household
per caput calorie consumption or indirectly
on the basis of survey data on the distribution
of household per caput income/expenditure.
A brief description of the principal steps
involved in the FAO methodology for estimating
the proportion and number of persons undernourished
is given below.
- The distribution of the
available food (expressed in terms of calories)
among individuals in a country is derived
by combining information on the average per
caput calorie consumption level (the per caput
daily dietary energy supply) and a measure
of the inequality in distribution (the coefficient
of variation) estimated on the basis of the
available household survey data pertaining
to food consumption or income/expenditure.
- An estimate is made of
the minimum energy requirement below which
the average individual's consumption can be
considered to be inadequate, i.e. the cut-off
point for intake inadequacy. This cut-off
point is determined by first calculating the
minimum energy requirements by sex-age groups
(on the basis of the minimum of the range
of acceptable body weight for height and light
activity for adults and adolescents) and then
aggregating the results (using the sex-age
composition of the population as weights)
to reflect the minimum requirement of the
average individual in the population. The
methodology of calculating the energy requirements
is based on the recommendations of a joint
FAO/WHO/UNU Expert Consultation on energy
and protein and requirements (FAO/WHO/UNU.
1985. WHO Technical Report Series No. 724.
Geneva, WHO).
- The proportion of the population
with inadequate food (i.e. the undernourished)
is estimated by applying the minimum energy
requirement as the cut-off point on the distribution
of food availability.
- The absolute number of
persons undernourished is obtained by multiplying
the country's estimated total population by
the proportion undernourished (mentioned in
step c).
A detailed account of the methodology underlying
the calculation of the proportion and number of
persons undernourished is given in Appendix 3
of The Sixth World Food Survey (FAO, 1996) |
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