The real hunger games: Urban poverty on the rise :: Mmegi Online

According to a recent Statistics Botswana survey, between 2010 and 2016, 10,000 more people in the country’s cities and towns sank below the poverty datum line, the level measuring the ability to meet one’s basic needs. Interestingly, in the rural areas and urban villages, more people rose above that line during the same period. Staff Writer, MBONGENI MGUNI writes.

The numerous truth-bombs contained in the recently released Botswana Multi Topic Household Survey are still reverberating around the country. The report, generally covering household incomes and expenditures across the country, has revealed uncomfortable trends around wages, falling rates of home ownership, rising worries about where to get the next meal, the numbers of the unemployed and those who have given up on getting jobs, amongst others.

One disturbing trend indicated is that poverty is rising amongst residents of cities and towns in the country, at a time when it is falling everywhere else.

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