Reviewing DRC’s poverty estimates, 2005-2012: Unprecedented GDP growth without trickle down.
This working paper focuses on the percentage of people in poverty (or poverty headcounts) using micro-level data
Abstract
The first decade of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DRC) post-conflict reconstruction period (2004-2013) was marked by an unprecedented economic growth in per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of 3-4% per year, but was this ‘peace dividend’ translated into widespread poverty reduction within the Congolese population?
This working paper answers this question by focusing on the percentage of people in poverty (or poverty headcounts) using micro-level data. The paper uses two national household surveys: the first was conducted in 2004-2005, right before the 2006 elections that inaugurated the first post-conflict government; and the second was carried out in 2012-2013, about seven years after the first round. Both the Institut National de la Statistique (INS) (RDC, 2014) and the World Bank (2016) estimate very high poverty rates; and both point to a significant decrease in poverty between the two survey periods. Using the same datasets, both institutions find that the poverty headcount decreased by five to eight percentage points.
This research is part of the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC) programme
Citation
Marivoet, W. De Herdt, T. and Ulimwenga, J. (2019) Reviewing DRC’s poverty estimates, 2005-2012: Unprecedented GDP growth without trickle down. Working paper. London: Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium.
Links
Reviewing DRC’s poverty estimates, 2005-2012: Unprecedented GDP growth without trickle down