Kweneng West overtakes Ngamiland West as poorest district

Mbongeni Mguni | Friday January 19, 2018 07:00

 

According to data unveiled by the data agency this yesterday morning, Kweneng West has a poverty incidence of 50.6 percent or roughly one out of every two people.

The district had an updated population of 52,400 according to the 2015/16 Botswana Multi-Topic Household Survey released this morning.

Statistics Botswana researchers classify “poor” as anyone living below the poverty datum line, a level which represents the cost of a basket of goods and services assessed “to be necessary to meet basic needs of household members”.

The numbers show that after Kweneng West, Ngamiland West was the second poorest district with poverty incidence of 40.3 percent, followed by Kgalagadi South with 39.5 percent.

Sowa Town is technically the district least affected by poverty with a poverty incidence of just five percent, followed by North East district (7.2 percent) and South East district (8.1 percent). 

The figures also show that female-headed households are more affected by poverty than those headed by males.

Stats Botswana’s data shows that nationally, poverty levels have dropped, being measured at 19.3 percent in 2009/10 to 16.3 percent in 2015/16.

The figures, however, also show that inequality has increased in the country, nationally and at rural and urban level.