Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe

doi:doi:10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12

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Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 2, Issue 5)

Received: 29 August 2014 Accepted: 17 September 2014 Published: 30 September 2014

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Abstract

Poverty is one of the major socioeconomic issues that Sri Lanka has been attempting to tackle in the past six decades. Successive governments of the country have given highest priority to alleviate poverty and to sustain socioeconomic advancement of the country. The aim of this paper is to examine the trends of poverty incidence of the country and to identify the future challenges and opportunities that have opened up for poverty alleviation. The assessment was focused mainly on the income dimension of poverty. Secondary data published by the Department of Census and Statistics based on its Households Income and Expenditure Surveys and the data published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka were used in the analysis. The data reveals that poverty incidence has shown a gradual declining trend during the past ten-fifteen years. Several factors including economic growth, workers’ remittance, targeted poverty alleviation programs, increasing employment opportunities, improvement of socioeconomic infrastructure can be identified as the causal factors of this progress. Sustaining the declining trend and overcoming the disparity of poverty incidence among geographical locations are key challenges that should be addressed, appropriately. The end of the war the country presents several opportunities to free the country of income poverty.

Published in	Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 2, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12
Page(s)	132-138
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2014. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Public Policy, Poverty Alleviation, Economic Growth, Workers Remittance, Socioeconomic Infrastructure

References

[1]	Abeyratne, F. (2001). Poverty/Governance Nexus and its Relationship to the Status of the Small Farm Agriculture Sector in Sri Lanka. In Wijitapura Wimalaratana (ed.), Agriculture and Rural Development in Sri Lanka. Development Resource Centre, Department of Economics, University of Colombo.
[2]	Angus Deaton, (2007). Measuring Poverty. In Banerjeee et al. (ed.), Understanding Poverty, Oxford University Press.
[3]	Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Reports in various years.
[4]	Datt and Ravallion, (1998). Farm Productivity and Rural Poverty in India. Journal of Development Studies, April.
[5]	Department of Census and Statistics, (2008). Household Income and Expenditure Survey – 2006/07. Department of Census and Statistics, Ministry of Finance and Planning.
[6]	Department of Census and Statistics, (2011). Poverty Indicators; Household Income and Expenditure Survey – 2009/10. 1, 2.
[7]	Doller, D. K. Kraay, (200). Growth is Good for Poor. World Bank, Washington DC.
[8]	Government of Sri Lanka, (2002) REGAINING SRI LANKA: Vision and Strategy for Accelerated Development. December, 2002
[9]	Kakwani, N and E M Pernia (2000). What is Pro-Poor Growth?. Asian Development Review. 18, 1.
[10]	Mookherjee Dilip (2007). ‘Poverty Persistence and Design of Antipoverty Policies’, In Banerjeee et al. (ed.), Understanding Poverty, Oxford University Press.
[11]	Semasinghe W. M. (2009). Public Welfare Policies and Rural Poverty in Sri Lanka. (Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation). University of Kelaniya. Sri Lanka.
[12]	Semasinghe W. M. (2011). The Effects of Public Welfare Policies on Rural Poverty in Sri Lanka: A Logistic Regression Analysis’. Sri Lanka Journal of Advanced Social Studies, Vol.1 (1) 2011 145-179
[13]	World Bank (2008). Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment. World Bank, Washington DC.
[14]	DCS. Sri Lanka Poverty Review. Website: http://www.statistics.gov.lk/poverty/ SriLankaPoverty Review%20_English.pdf
[15]	UNDP. Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty where we are. Website: http://www.lk. undp.org /content/srilanka /en/home / mdgoverview/overview/mdg1/
[16]	Ratha, Dilip and Sanket Mohapatra (2007). Increasing the Macroeconomic Impact Remittances on Development. Development Prospects Group. The World Bank. Washington D.C.

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APA Style

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe. (2014). Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie. Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(5), 132-138. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12

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ACS Style

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe. Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2014, 2(5), 132-138. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12

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AMA Style

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe. Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie. Humanit Soc Sci. 2014;2(5):132-138. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12,
  author = {Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe},
  title = {Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {2},
  number = {5},
  pages = {132-138},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20140205.12},
  abstract = {Poverty is one of the major socioeconomic issues that Sri Lanka has been attempting to tackle in the past six decades. Successive governments of the country have given highest priority to alleviate poverty and to sustain socioeconomic advancement of the country. The aim of this paper is to examine the trends of poverty incidence of the country and to identify the future challenges and opportunities that have opened up for poverty alleviation. The assessment was focused mainly on the income dimension of poverty. Secondary data published by the Department of Census and Statistics based on its Households Income and Expenditure Surveys and the data published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka were used in the analysis. The data reveals that poverty incidence has shown a gradual declining trend during the past ten-fifteen years. Several factors including economic growth, workers’ remittance, targeted poverty alleviation programs, increasing employment opportunities, improvement of socioeconomic infrastructure can be identified as the causal factors of this progress. Sustaining the declining trend and overcoming the disparity of poverty incidence among geographical locations are key challenges that should be addressed, appropriately.  The end of the war the country presents several opportunities to free the country of income poverty.},
 year = {2014}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie
AU  - Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe
Y1  - 2014/09/30
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PB  - Science Publishing Group
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AB  - Poverty is one of the major socioeconomic issues that Sri Lanka has been attempting to tackle in the past six decades. Successive governments of the country have given highest priority to alleviate poverty and to sustain socioeconomic advancement of the country. The aim of this paper is to examine the trends of poverty incidence of the country and to identify the future challenges and opportunities that have opened up for poverty alleviation. The assessment was focused mainly on the income dimension of poverty. Secondary data published by the Department of Census and Statistics based on its Households Income and Expenditure Surveys and the data published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka were used in the analysis. The data reveals that poverty incidence has shown a gradual declining trend during the past ten-fifteen years. Several factors including economic growth, workers’ remittance, targeted poverty alleviation programs, increasing employment opportunities, improvement of socioeconomic infrastructure can be identified as the causal factors of this progress. Sustaining the declining trend and overcoming the disparity of poverty incidence among geographical locations are key challenges that should be addressed, appropriately.  The end of the war the country presents several opportunities to free the country of income poverty.
VL  - 2
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Author Information

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe

Department of Economics, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

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APA Style

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe. (2014). Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie. Humanities and Social Sciences, 2(5), 132-138. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12

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ACS Style

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe. Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2014, 2(5), 132-138. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12

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AMA Style

Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe. Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie. Humanit Soc Sci. 2014;2(5):132-138. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12

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@article{10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12,
  author = {Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe},
  title = {Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {2},
  number = {5},
  pages = {132-138},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20140205.12},
  abstract = {Poverty is one of the major socioeconomic issues that Sri Lanka has been attempting to tackle in the past six decades. Successive governments of the country have given highest priority to alleviate poverty and to sustain socioeconomic advancement of the country. The aim of this paper is to examine the trends of poverty incidence of the country and to identify the future challenges and opportunities that have opened up for poverty alleviation. The assessment was focused mainly on the income dimension of poverty. Secondary data published by the Department of Census and Statistics based on its Households Income and Expenditure Surveys and the data published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka were used in the analysis. The data reveals that poverty incidence has shown a gradual declining trend during the past ten-fifteen years. Several factors including economic growth, workers’ remittance, targeted poverty alleviation programs, increasing employment opportunities, improvement of socioeconomic infrastructure can be identified as the causal factors of this progress. Sustaining the declining trend and overcoming the disparity of poverty incidence among geographical locations are key challenges that should be addressed, appropriately.  The end of the war the country presents several opportunities to free the country of income poverty.},
 year = {2014}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Poverty Incidence in Sri Lanka: Overview, Trends, Challenges and Opportunitie
AU  - Wanninayake Mudiyanselage Semasinghe
Y1  - 2014/09/30
PY  - 2014
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 132
EP  - 138
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20140205.12
AB  - Poverty is one of the major socioeconomic issues that Sri Lanka has been attempting to tackle in the past six decades. Successive governments of the country have given highest priority to alleviate poverty and to sustain socioeconomic advancement of the country. The aim of this paper is to examine the trends of poverty incidence of the country and to identify the future challenges and opportunities that have opened up for poverty alleviation. The assessment was focused mainly on the income dimension of poverty. Secondary data published by the Department of Census and Statistics based on its Households Income and Expenditure Surveys and the data published by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka were used in the analysis. The data reveals that poverty incidence has shown a gradual declining trend during the past ten-fifteen years. Several factors including economic growth, workers’ remittance, targeted poverty alleviation programs, increasing employment opportunities, improvement of socioeconomic infrastructure can be identified as the causal factors of this progress. Sustaining the declining trend and overcoming the disparity of poverty incidence among geographical locations are key challenges that should be addressed, appropriately.  The end of the war the country presents several opportunities to free the country of income poverty.
VL  - 2
IS  - 5
ER  -

Copy | Download