Multidimensional poverty and the variables that contribute to it in the Gurage Zone of Ethiopia: Using rural-urban migration as a decomposition parameter

BACKGROUND: Poverty alleviation is a critical issue for national and international development goals. Data on different poverty-reduction measures are eagerly sought by policymakers. Analytical data on the role of migration in poverty alleviation is one of them. OBJECTIVES: This study is designed to investigate the prevalence of multidimensional poverty and its determinants in connection to rural-urban migration. METHODS: Primary data was collected from 384 randomly selected rural households and analyzed using econometric models. RESULTS: Non-migrant and migrant-sending households had adjusted headcount ratios of 19.8% and 10.5%, respectively. Poor living conditions were identified in 43.5% of non-migrant households and 25.6% of migrant-sending households, respectively. Non-migrant households and migrant-sending households contributed 70.5% and 29.5%, respectively, to the entire sample’s adjusted headcount ratio. According to the findings, household size, the number of migrants per household, the education level of the household head and livestock ownership all has a significant effect on households’ multidimensional poverty. CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate that rural-urban migration helps poverty reduction in the region. Therefore, proper consideration should be given to maximizing the benefit of migration on the long-term reduction of multidimensional poverty through productive remittance investment and assisting households to improve their productive capacity.