Financial Health of Women: A Poisson Regression Analysis Approach

Abstract

Financial health of women is crucial as it enables them manage their financial commitments, respond to short-term financial shocks and be financially resilience. There is a marked difference between the financial health or wellbeing of women living in rural and urban areas. This study analyzes the factors that influence the financial health of women in rural and urban areas in Kenya using the Poisson regression model. The study data is based on the FinAccess survey of 2019 conducted by Central Bank of Kenya, Financial Sector Deepening Kenya and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. A comparison is made between the key factors influencing the financial health of the women based on area of residence. The presence of overdispersion in the data meant the use of quasipoisson instead of poisson model in the data analysis. The findings is that women in urban areas are more financially healthy than those in rural areas. The risk coping, age, invest score, ability to manage day to day, vulnerability, area of residence, widowed as a marital status and completed university are significant in influencing financial health of the women.