Nicaragua
Just the Facts: A Poor Country, Part I*
Envío team
In 1985, 63.5% of Nicaraguan households and 69.4% of its population were defined as poor, 22.7% of them living in a state of poverty and 16.1% in a state of indigence or misery. As is evident from the data below, poverty increased even more in the last half of the decade. In this issue, envío presents this reality both geographically and in a statistical profile of poor families, particularly their heads of household. Next month, we will offer data on the five indicators of unmet basic needs that define poverty: inadequate housing, overcrowding, insufficient services, low education levels and high economic dependency.
The context for Nicaragua’s growing poverty is that, while social investment reached 60% of total investment between 1979 and 1984, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) dropped steadily thereafter due to the war and economic blockade, as well as certain domestic policies and implementation deficiencies. In addition, capital flight from the country in the decade 1979-89 reached $4 billion.
Profile of poor families and
heads of household in urban ManaguaPoverty predominates in households with 4 or more family members, low education levels and minimal job skills; given the condition of women in Nicaragua, this frequently also means female-headed households. The following figures come from a 1989 survey.
Household size:
- Average size of Managua households: 5.5-5.8 members.
- Poor households average one more member than non-poor.
Education levels:
- Of those over 10 years of age who studied in Popular or Adult Education Centers, 81.5% live in a state of poverty.
- Of those with no education or who did not finish primary school, 79.1% and 66%, respectively, live in a state of poverty.
- Of those heads of household with no education or who did not complete primary school, only 14% do not live in poverty.
Labor strata:
- Of the 64% of heads of household who were unskilled laborers, self-employed or salaried farmworkers, 76.7% live in a state of poverty.
- Of the 35% who were professionals, white collar or skilled workers, 21.6% are poor.
- Sectors of workers showing highest indices of poverty and unmet basic needs: agriculture and mining 72.5%, construction 57.8%.
Gender factor:
- In 1989, female-headed households constituted 34.2% of the total, largely for war related reasons; in 1985 they were 30.8%.
- Skilled or professional male heads of household (19.6%) almost double female heads with similar positions (10.8%).
- Of the 56.2% of female heads of household who did not complete primary school, 70.1% live in a state of poverty.
- Female-headed households with their basic needs unmet: 54.9%.
- Male-headed households with basic needs unmet: 40.6%.
The geography of poverty:
- The lowest incidence of poverty is found in Regions III and IV, although the absolute number of people affected is considerable given the population concentration in these two regions. These figures worsened between 1986 and 1990.
- Only Regions I, II and IV have higher percentages of people with only one basic need unmet (understood as poor) than the national average of 30.6%.
- Regions I, IV, V, VI and SZ I/II have higher percentages of people with only two basic needs unmet (understood as living in a state of poverty) than the national average of 22.7%.
- Regions I, II, V, VI, SZ I/II and SZ III have higher percentages of people with three or more basic needs unmet (understood as living in misery) than the national average of 16.1%.
- In all regions except VI and the Special Zones, the largest group among the poor is made up of people with only one basic need unmet. In Region VI, the largest group (29.7%) is of people with two basic needs unmet; in Special Zones I/II and III the largest is of people with three or more basic needs unmet (35.1% and 44% respectively).
- The highest percentage of all is found in the rural breakdown for Special Zone III: 52% of its population has three or more basic needs unmet (compared to 15.3% of its urban population).
- The lowest percentage is found in Region IV’s urban population, where only 3.2% of the population has three or more basic needs unsatisfied.
* Data taken from Nicaragua: País Pobre, a 1991 envío Writer’s Contest entry by Oscar René Vargas, which received honorable mention.
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a monthly magazine of analysis on Central America