An Analysis of Rural Poverty in Oyo State: A principal Component Approach

Abstract

The 2003/2004 NLSS data was used in this paper to consider the status of rural household poverty in Oyo State, Nigeria and to identify the relevant determinants using the. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to determine the important factors associated with rural household poverty. Household size, mother’s educational level, age of the household head, father’s work and mother’s work were the key factors found to be major determinants of rural poverty incidence in the state. The choice of expenditure as a proxy for measuring poverty was further corroborated. These findings indicated that factor analysis is very helpful in poverty -targeting and
alleviation.

Keywords: Fundamental Freedoms of Action, Unacceptable Deprivation, Economic Growth, Rural household poverty, Principal Component Analysis, Proxy