Poverty in Niue

The Poverty in Niue Analysis report was based on the 2002 Household Income and Expenditure Survey.

This was the first ever Poverty Analysis Report in Niue in response to the Copenhagen Declaration Programme of Action and the United Nations Poverty Strategies Initiatives (PSI)

Report is available here:

• Poverty in Niue Part 1
• Poverty in Niue Part 2
• Poverty in Niue Part 3

Summary of findings:

• No households fell below the absolute poverty line of US$1/day
• All households had total per capita expenditure above the food poverty line
• Almost all households had sufficient income to meet their daily costs-of-living for not food and other essential expenditure
• As estimated eight percent of households spent less than was considered sufficient to meet both essential and discretionary expenditures
• Around 14% of households fall below 50% of median per-capita expenditure
• On average higher spending households have twice the income and spend twice as much as lower spending households
• There were differences in gender of householder, location of household, and number of children and workers of households in the lowest expenditure quintile (20%) compared to higher quintiles.

National poverty lines measure the incidence of absolute poverty withing a country. National poverty lines are calculated for Food Poverty (FPL)and Basic Needs Poverty (BNPL). The FPL gives an indication of the poorest of the poor in society and the BNPL measures the incidence of basic needs hardship. In this context therefore it is importnat to note that hardship and poverty in Niue is associated with any potential difficulties in meeting basic needs (BNPL) rather than poverty (FPL).

The Purchasing Power Parity Line (PPP) was calculated using a basket of goods commonly consumed in Niue using 2002 prices derived from the consumer price index. For 2002 it is estimated that the PPP value of US$1 per day was equivalent to NZ$3.79 per day or NZ$26.50 per capita per week. At the figure of US$2 per day the equivalent figure was NZ$53.00 per capita per week.

Table 1. Summary of the Niue poverty line calculations.

While there is no evidence from the HIES survey that absolute poverty exists in Niue, the relative measures of hardship (RPL) suggest that there are differences in the characteristics of households whose total per-capita expenditure falls in the lowest quintile (20%) of all households. These households are considered to be in relative hardship.
14% of households fall below 50% of median per-capita expenditure (relative poverty).

Table 2. Summary of the Niue poverty estimates

Source: Poverty in Niue, the analysis