Around 2.5 million Zimbabweans are shockingly living in poverty and below the World Bank stipulated Poverty Datum Line (PDL), latest Poverty Income, Consumption and Expenditure Survey report has revealed.
According to the latest figures, the PDL for the country stood at $174.59 per person in March 2019, an increase of 5.53% from February’s $165.44.
This means that Zimbabweans are now living slightly below the World Bank’s updated international poverty datum line of US$1.90 a day, at US$1.87 (based on March end official interbank rate of 3.012).
The number of people living in extreme poverty in Zimbabwe at the date of the last Poverty Survey was 2.5 million representing a poverty rate of 16%. This is below the 18% poverty rate that the World Bank considers as being in extreme poverty.
This was necessitated by a sharp increase in the prices of basic commodities which has seen the total consumption poverty datum line for a family of five stood at $872.94 in March 2019.
This represents an increase of 5.53% from February 2019 figure of $827.19.
The food poverty line (FPL) as of March 2019 stood at $58.93. This means that the minimum needs basket cost that much per person in March 2019.
This represents an increase of 2.7% over February’s $57.38. The March 2019 FPL for an average of five persons in Zimbabwe stood at $294.66 from $286.90.
