THE EXTENT OF HOUSEHOLD POVERTY IN AFGHANISTAN: A CASE STUDY OF MAZAR-I-SHARIF CITY, BALKH PROVINCE (2019/20 AND 2020/21)

Abstract

There is limited literature review and analysis of poverty in Afghanistan, particularly in the analysis of an urban area. Therefore, due to the limited information on the extent of poverty in Mazar-i-Sharif city especially at the micro/household level, this paper will provide such information and a more current one. To conduct the study, an actual data of 1060 households in Mazar-i-Sharif, obtained from a strictly random process, is used and applied the “Foster-Greer-Thorbecke (FGT)” measures of poverty to analyse poverty based on income and expenditure approach in two waves, before “COVID-19” (March 21, 2019-March 20, 2020) and during “COVID-19” (March 21, 2020-March 21, 2021). Also, the “Independent t-test” is applied to compare the mean of poverty indices in wave 1 compared to wave 2. It is found that, overall, the poverty rate is high in Mazar-i-Sharif, and more than two-thirds of the population severely suffers from the phenomenon, and it increased during the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic time. Also, the depth and severity of poverty are also serious issues and the indices increased in wave 2 compared to wave 1. Further, the study suggests that the government and international organizations should do urgent actions to save million lives and to overcome of this phenomenon