The Determinants of Poverty in Cameroon

Abstract

This study appeals to an alternative approach in explaining poverty in Cameroon, notably it looks at variables which are not base on current household consumption. This paper looks at monetary poverty in Cameroon. This study made used of data on the Cameroon household survey (ECAM III) collected by the national institute of statistics in 2007. The Statistical package used to generate results was SPSS version 17. Variables that explain household economic well-being were years of schooling of household head, household head having a public or private sector job, age of household head, gender, distance to the nearest hospital, distance to the nearest road, owning farm land, both urban and rural localities. From the regression results, the following variables contributed positively to household expenditure account; years of schooling of household head, access to credit, household head having a public or private sector job and number of migrants in the household. Variables that rather reduced household expenditure were age of household head, owning farmland, male headed households, household head unemployed, distance to the nearest tarred road and distance to the nearest hospital. Based on these findings, the study advocates for government intervention with policies that encourages attainment of higher levels of education, employment and rural development.

Keywords:  Poverty, Inequality and welfare