ACCORDING to the latest edition of the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC), poverty rates at the national level had remained stable up to 2019.

The survey revealed that both the national prevalence of poverty and extreme (food) poverty remained on target for Vision 2030, Jamaica’s national development plan, up to 2019, as consumption remained nominal in terms of mean per capita consumption in 2019, relative to the previous year.

The JSLC, which was tabled in the House of Representatives, showed that this was the case in terms of data which was examined by region, quintile and sex of household head in 2018.

“In real terms, consumption declined in the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Area (GKMA) and other urban centres (OUC), increased in rural areas, but inequality remains evident at different levels of disaggregation with the GMKA,” reported the survey. “Male-headed households, it added, registered higher levels of consumption than female-headed households,” the survey noted.

Individuals registering expenditure in the highest 20 per cent continued to spend almost seven times the expenditure of the poorest Jamaicans. The GKMA registered a decline in overall poverty and food poverty.

The report also noted that, up to 2019, the child poverty rate had remained below the Vision 2030 Jamaica Medium Term Policy Framework target, a range of 15.5 per cent to 18.5 per cent, for 2018-2021.

The JSLC also noted that the poverty rates among the younger age groups remained higher than those individuals in the older age cohorts.

The report indicated that the relative stability in consumption expenditure, inequality, and poverty within the context of economic growth indicates that there may be need for further exploration to determine the best strategies for reliable targeting that moves indicators in the desired direction.

The report, however, said that while the only region to record significant movement in the poverty rate was the GKMA, which declined to 4.7 per cent or 4.5 percentage points, the prevalence of poverty in the OUC and rural areas was 13.4 per cent and 14.2 per cent, respectively.

By age group, children (under 15 years) and youth (15–24 years) registered higher poverty rates than older people. Extreme (food) poverty was also relatively unchanged at 4.0 per cent nationally, but showed an increase in rural areas.

An examination of the age structure of the population showed that 22.7 per cent of the population were children between the ages 0–14 years, 67.5 per cent were of working age (15–64 years), and 9.8 per cent were dependent elderly (65 years and older).

This has resulted in an age dependency ratio (ADR) of 48.1 dependents per 100 people of working age. Compared with 2018, there was an increase in the ADR by 3.5 dependents per 100 people of working age. Average household size continues to decline, an estimated 2.7 from 2.9 in 2018. This is consistent with the 4.0 percentage point increase observed in the proportion of households with one to three members to 71.9 per cent compared with 2018.

There was also a continued increase in the proportion of households with only one member.

Meanwhile, the health status of the population was assessed to determine well-being and the subsequent potential burden on the health-care system.

Chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which require life-long management and interaction with the health-care system, registered an increase in reported prevalence by 2.4 percentage points to 26.3 per cent.

Regarding illnesses and injuries, 6.7 per cent of individuals reported that they were ill/injured during the four-week reference period. The illness/injury lasted on average 7.9 days and impaired normal functioning for an average 4.1 days.

Of those who were ill/injured, 70.1 per cent sought medical care, with similar proportions visiting either a public (46.6 per cent) or a private (47.6 per cent) health facility.

In real terms, compared with 2018, there were increases in spending in private facilities, a 10.2 per cent increase for visits to private health facilities ($2,803), and an 18.0 per cent increase on medication in private pharmacies($5,262).

No expenditure was reported for visits to public health facilities. For medication in public pharmacies, mean expenditure declined to $267 up from $711.00 in 2018. Health insurance coverage remained low at 18.2 per cent.

Improvements were seen in the proportion of households with exclusive use of a water closet, a 4.0 percentage point increase to 77.7 per cent, and the proportion of households not living in overcrowded conditions, by 2.3 percentage points to 67.2 per cent.

An increase of 4.5 percentage points in the share of households using bottled water (13.0 per cent) as the main source of drinking water was noted. This coincided with negative movements in the proportion of households that use an indoor tap/pipe as the main source of drinking water as there was a decline of 4.4 percentage points to 46.5 per cent.

Of those who used this source, 60.3 per cent reported having at least one water lock-off incident. This lock-off might have occurred for the entire day or any portion of the day. Only one lock-off per day was counted, similar to 2018.

The frequency of lock-offs increased to an average 10.6 from 7.6 during the 30-day period preceding the survey.

Households were also asked about their ownership and use of information and communication technologies. Less than four in every 10 households (38.9 per cent) owned a working computer — whether desktop, laptop or tablet; and 73.9 per cent had access to the Internet. While ownership of a device was similar to the previous year, access to the Internet increased by 9.0 percentage points.

An examination of participation in one of the country’s main social protection programmes, the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), showed registration for people eight plus years at 62.8 per cent, an increase from 55.4 per cent in 2018. Of those registered, 40.3 per cent made a contribution within the 12 months prior to the survey indicating the level of active contributors.

The other programmes examined — National Health Fund (NHF), Jamaica Drug for the Elderly Programme (JADEP) and the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) — give focus to specific vulnerable groups. For the NHF, which is available to persons with any of 17 specific chronic illnesses, registration was 15.4 per cent of the population (15.6 per cent in 2018). For the elderly (60 plus years), 18.1 per cent were registered to the JADEP (17.4 per cent in 2018).