Poor or Poverty

1. Poor or Poverty Generally, a person who is unable to satisfy his basic food and non-food(education ,health ,housing ..etc.) requirements can be considered as a ‘Poor’ and when poor exists poverty exists.

2. Statistical definition Persons whose per capita expenditure value lies below the poverty line are considered ‘Poor’ according to the definition of official poverty line.

3. Official poverty line of Sri Lanka • The poverty line established on HIES 2002 data by the DCS as the Official Poverty Line (OPL) for Sri Lanka in June 2004. • The minimum amount of expenditure per person required to satisfy his/her basic food and non-food expenditure is defined as the ‘Poverty Line’ • The OPL is fixed at a specific welfare level that is a person who meets a certain minimum nutritional intake (2030 kilocalories per capita per day) to compare over time with household food and non- food consumption and expenditure data. Hence call as consumption poverty line. • The Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) approach which is internationally recognized method was used to determine its value. • Therefore, OPL is the minimum requirement of nutrients plus the other basic needs( Education, Health, Housing, Clothing etc.) • The year 2002 value of the OPL which was Rs. 1423 real total expenditure per person per month is updated for the price movements through the Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI) calculated monthly by the DCS.

4. Poverty Headcount Ratio by Survey Period

5. Median household Income and Expenditure Distribution by Survey Periods Mean household Income and Expenditure Distribution by Survey Periods

6. Food and Non-Food Ratio by Survey Periods

7. Average Household Expenditure by selected non food groups by Survey periods

8. Percentage Share of Household Income by Social Economic Groups

9. Impact Analysis of Social Protection Program HIES survey collects the social protection information and intend to discover mainly the social assistance and social insurance information. The areas of the social protection covered by HIES in 2012/13 are follows;

10. Impact of Social protection programs on poverty measures simulating the absence of the program • The total social protection transfer programs have reduced the poverty from 9.2% to 6.5 %. This social protection transfers lifted 2.7 % poor people above poverty line. • In the absence of pension, poverty headcount indicator would increase to 8.2 % • In the absence of Samurdhi, poverty headcount indicator would increase to 6.9 %