Using the spatial autocorrelation method to analyse poverty in rural areas

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the method of spatial autocorrelation (LISA) to determine the degree of concentration, i.e. local spatial relationships of poverty incidence in rural areas. Indicators concerning people living below the income criteria and benefiting from social assistance between 2009 and 2013 have been taken into account for the analysis on the basis of GUS publication Economic poverty in Poland. Such a criterion is defined as the statutory threshold of poverty, but the measure does not fully reflect the scale of this phenomenon. No annual indexation of the thresholds of poverty causes a decrease in the concentration of this phenomenon in rural areas, and increase the income threshold criterion contributes to the range of incidence of poverty.