EXPENDITURE PATTERNS

A breakdown of expenditure patterns for households at different income levels was obtained through semistructured interviews with small groups of men and women engaged in a wide variety of economic activities.

Expenditure of active very poor and poor households

The figure above illustrates the expenditure pattern of some of the poorest households that weren't completely dependent on gifts for all their food and income (i.e. they were not destitute). The active very poor group illustrated here spends roughly SlSh 13-14,000 per day (or about US$2) on both food and nonfood items for a family of 7 people. The standard of living of these households is low compared to other wealth groups. Essential food items include rice, wheat flour, maize, sorghum, sugar, vegetable oil, and very small quantities of vegetables (onions and tomatoes especially), cowpeas, meat, milk powder, salt and tea leaves. Very poor households tend to purchase food daily in small quantities, which means that they end up paying more per kilo than better off households that can purchase in bulk. For example, the very poor purchase milk powder approximately every other day in 17 gram units costing SlSh 500, tea leaves daily in units that cost SlSh 100 or 200, and salt daily in units that cost SlSh 100 (each of these items comes as a spoon full wrapped in small pieces of plastic bag). Meat is purchased most days, but in units that are described as a `small piece' and that weigh about 125 grams. The vast majority of calories consumed by these households come from cereals, sugar and oil. Less than 5% of calories are obtained from vegetables, milk powder and meat. The main non-food items that are purchased daily are water, charcoal, and kerosene. Items that are purchased less frequently include soap, second-hand clothes, and khat. Spending on schooling and health care is minimal.

Households in the `poor' group, spend about US$3 per day on food and non-food items for a family of 7 people. They tend to purchase slightly less of the cheaper cereals (maize and sorghum) than the `very poor' group and purchase more of almost everything else.

It is difficult to generalise about very poor and poor household expenditure on water. This was not because of widely different quantities that are purchased per household but rather because of huge differences in prices in different parts of the town, particularly in the assessment period when there was a seasonal peak in prices combined with technical problems. Very poor households tend to purchase two jerrycans (each holding 20 litres) of water per day, while poor households typically purchase three. Current prices vary from SlSh 200 - 1,000 per jerrycan. In the rainy season, this price range decreases to SlSh 200 - 500 per jerrycan. The most expensive areas are on the outskirts of town, where the public water pipes do not reach, where water is transported by donkey carts or by tanker, and where poor households are concentrated. This does not mean that there are no poor households living in the areas where water is inexpensive, but rather that some areas of town where the poor are concentrated (e.g. Mohamed Moge, Sheikh Nur) are ill served by the public water system. This places a large financial burden on poor households living in these areas, and means that they are making do with less than ideal amounts of water for hygiene and sanitation purposes.

The graph below compares very poor and poor households with middle and better off households. Wealthier households can afford a better quality and more diverse diet, purchasing much larger quantities of vegetables, fruit, meat and milk (in the `other food' category in the bar chart below). Expenditure on water, health care, education, transport, clothing and khat also increases as households become richer. In addition, lower middle, upper middle and better off households all indicated that they give gifts in cash or in kind to poorer relatives (both in rural and urban areas) and neighbours. The wealthier a household is, the more difficult it is to present a `typical' expenditure pattern, because the household has more discretionary income and therefore has considerable choice in how it spends its money. The illustration for the `better off' in particular in the graphic below should be regarded as only indicative. For this wealth group, `other' includes investment. In general, the percentage of household expenditure (and income) spent on food decreases as wealth increases. While very poor households spend about 65-70% of their income on food, lower middle households spend about 50% and better off households only about 20%.

For details of the expenditure baskets compiled for different wealth groups, please refer to Annex 4.
 

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