Montserrat Survey of Living Conditions (MSLC) Executive Summary

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Montserrat Survey of Living ConditionsExecutive Summaryabout the same time) and Guyana. The food share percentage of the poverty line is a good indicator ofrelative poverty levels, as this variable traditionally decreases with affluence. Montserrat, at 34%, is lowerthan all the cited countries except St Lucia. Montserrat’s Gini coefficient situates it firmly amongst themajority of the countries shown in terms of income inequality.3.3 Characteristics of Poverty in Montserrat in 2009In terms of demographic characteristics, the findings are similar to those of many other CPAs and can besummarized as follows:Children (under 15 years) experience by far the highest poverty rate. This group accounts for over athird of the poor population.Those over 30 years, including the elderly, have a below average poverty rate. The elderly account forlittle more than 10% of the poor population.There is no difference in the incidence of poverty between males and females. Nor is there asignificant difference between male and female headed households.There is an unambiguous correlation between household size and poverty (Figure ES5). Largerhouseholds are much more likely to be poor and they account for a disproportionate proportion ofpoor households. Specifically, households with more than 2 persons account for over 60% of poorhouseholds compared with 34% of all households; the poverty rate amongst this group is around45%, almost double the national average. In contrast, the poverty rate for single person households isonly 11%. These contrasts are even more acute when population rather than households are used –over 80% of the poor population lives in households with more than 2 persons. The averagehousehold size of poor households is 3.5 persons compared with 2.1 persons for not poorhouseholds.Figure ES6. Poverty and Household size, Montserrat, 200950%45%40%35%30%25%20%15%10%5%0%47%35% 35%26%24%15%13%4%1 2 3-4 5+Household Size (persons)% of Poor Households % of Poor PopulationMontserrat Country Poverty Assessment, Final ReportHalcrow Group Limited, July 2012.ES10
Montserrat Survey of Living ConditionsExecutive SummaryHigher levels of poverty are also associated with:Households where no one is employed.Households headed by persons with only primary education.Montserratian-headed households.Overcrowded and renting households (virtually everyone has access to piped water, sanitation andelectricity.Lower levels of vehicle and computer ownership – but not telephones, fridges, TVs and washingmachines.The situation is however more complex than is implied by the above statistics which, in most cases, arenot statistically significant:In every category described there are more not poor people than poor people.Just because a group exhibits a lower than average poverty rate, does not mean that there are notimportant poverty related issues that need to be addressed.The data relate only to income poverty and do not take account of issues related to wellbeing.3.4 Difficulties faced by the PoorThe PPAs provide information on the difficulties encountered by different groups of the poor. The‘primacy’ of economic hardship came out strongly in the PPAs with more mentions relating to high prices,low wages and lack of employment opportunities - resulting from the sluggish economy and the spike inoil and food prices that occurred at the end of 2008/ early 2009 - than for all other issues combined. As aresult, many households are finding it hard to cope with weekly food costs, loan repayments, educationcosts and utility bills (electricity disconnections are increasing).For poor family households (55% of poor households have children), these difficulties can lead toadditional pressures on family relationships potentially giving rise to a range of adverse impacts onwellbeing:“I feel confused, frustrated and, powerless. When I get up in the morning and I don’t have sugar to put in mychildren tea, I have to ask the neighbour. I feel very stress. In Montserrat you hardly get someone to ‘stretch’for you. You have to fight the battle for yourself. I feel that my life is at risk, because I have a heart problem.I am sick and I cannot come up with money to go to the doctor. I feel at risk. Really tough, I have stress Ihave children to feed. I eat what the doctor told me eat, but it is very difficult. I have husband who is not“stretching” for me. He is not helping me.” (FGD Migrant Women, Salem)In turn, these pressures can give rise to a range of abusive, anti-social and risky behaviours: family breakup, domestic violence, child abuse, drug-taking, criminality and teenage pregnancy 11 , all of which increasethe risk of continuing and inter-generational poverty:11 Note that these can also arise independently of economic issues; see 3.7 below.Montserrat Country Poverty Assessment, Final ReportHalcrow Group Limited, July 2012.ES11
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