DETERMINANTS OF URBAN POVERTY IN THE CASE OF SEBETA HAWAS, OROMIA NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE

Abstract

The heterogeneity of urban poverty in a country is attributed to the high monetization of economies. Unlike in rural areas, urban poverty is reflected at an individual rather than communal level. Accordingly, poverty in such context is usually described in terms of income, consumption level, and employment. In Ethiopia the challenge of urban poverty has become daunting. However, analytical works that scrutinize urban poverty profile in the country in general and in medium towns in particular are at best scanty. In light of this the study assessed determinants of urban poverty in Sebeta Hawaas town. Data are collected by group members with some favorite colleges. A total of 130 household heads were selected by a systematic random sampling from two Kebele ssebeta and Alemgena of the town. A Logistic regression model was employed and estimated based on the primary data with the probability of a household being poor as a dependent variable and a set of demographic and socioeconomic variables as the explanatory parameters. By making use of Cost of Basic Needs (CBN) approach the study identified respondents as poor and non-poor. Based on this, out of the 130 surveyed household heads, 87(67%) of them were found poor. The study obtained the head count, poverty gap, and severity indices as 0.66, 0.417, and 0.191 respectively. The variables that are positively correlated with the probability of being poor are: age, sex, higher education for house hold head, income, food consumption, education, Electricity, House rent, and telephone status of the household. Variables negatively correlated with the probability of being poor are marital status, employment statues, family size, Health, potable water, Variables which affected significantly incidence of poverty at 99% confidence interval are: average monthly income, food consumption, and health status of the households whereas, age, sex, marital status, higher education level family size education ,water source, housing, telephone service, and electric connection were found statistically insignificant indicators of urban poverty. That incidence of poverty is rampant among the surveyed households 0.66 the head count ratio, 0.417poverty gap, and 0.191 the severity index in the town respectively calls for urgent interventions aimed at curbing the fate of the poor.