The Influence of Socio-Economic Factors on Poverty Incidence in Rural and Urban Households of Zanzibar, Tanzania

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of socio-economic factors on poverty incidence in rural and urban households in Zanzibar. The study used crosssectional data from the Zanzibar Household Budget Survey of 2019/2020. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the influence of socioeconomic factors on poverty incidence in rural and urban households with a sample size of 2,788. These variables were found to have negative relationships with poverty incidence. This was affirmed by the marginal effects of -0.3596 and -0.2908 with their p-values of 0.000* in rural and urban respectively for the proportion of employees. Similarly, marginal effects were -0.1717 and -0.1074 with their pvalues of 0.000* in rural and urban households, respectively, for electricity access. This means the increase in the proportion of employees, and access to electricity decreases poverty incidence. Furthermore, there was a direct relationship between agricultural land use and poverty incidence; the marginal effect was 0.1090 with a p-value of 0.000* and a marginal effect of 0.0927 with a p-value of 0.001* in the rural and urban areas respectively. Thus, better investment in the variables of production like land use, employment opportunities, and electricity directly increases productivity and hence reduces and alleviates poverty. This study reveals that poverty incidence in Zanzibar was influenced by socio-economic factors that households possessed. This paper recommends that policies be amended in light of insisting on investment in infrastructures such as electrification; instead, making electricity affordable for households; and promoting inclusive agricultural development with infrastructure like irrigation systems, especially in rural areas.