Welfare measures and the composition of the bottom decile: the example of gender and extreme poverty in South Africa

Key Points

• This research analyzes how different socio-economic measures affect the understanding of gender composition in extreme poverty.
• Examined three socio-economic measures: asset index, household income per capita, and household expenditure per capita.
• Analyzed the bottom decile of South Africa to assess gender differences in poverty.
• Discussed reasons for discrepancies in gender composition based on the measure used.
• Showed that gender composition in the bottom decile varies significantly based on the socio-economic measure applied.
• Highlighted gender differences in asset ownership, which affect poverty assessments.
• Implicated that using asset indices may overlook important gender disparities in identifying the poorest.