Perceptions of Welfare and Poverty: Analysis of Qualitative Responses of a Panel of Urban Households in Ethiopia

Abstract

In this study we attempted to apply the subjective definition of poverty based on a version of the income evaluation question to analyse the perception of households about their welfare and to derive the poverty line and poverty measures in developing country setting The results are encouraging and indicate that meaningful responses can be obtained to the income evaluation question The findings show that in general households are more concerned about their absolute welfare than their welfare in comparison with others In addition, we found that household needs rise with the size of the household, sex of the head of the household and the education of the head of the household.