The Effects of Household Size on Household Poverty in sub-Saharan Africa

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2021-07-09

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en

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A larger household is generally associated with more poverty and the addition of household members is advised against. Some studies, however, provide counter-evidence to this and emphasize the role of situational factors and the benefits people can derive from living together. The current study researches the relationship between household size and household poverty in sub-Saharan Africa, while accounting for these matters. The results clearly and significantly associate a larger household with less poverty in terms of asset ownership, a finding which opposes the general conviction based on income and consumption measures of poverty. Situational factors are important in this, as the relationship gets stronger with a beneficial share of workers to non-workers and a higher average level of education of the household. On top of that, larger households seem to be better off in rural areas. These findings indicate that a universal conclusion about the relationship between household size and poverty cannot be drawn. Compositional, educational and locational factors of households differ greatly, not only between individual households, but also between continents and regions of the world.

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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen