Poverty rate in Laos down to 18.3 per cent

VIENTIANE (Xinhua): Poverty in Laos continues to decline to 18.3 per cent, as infrastructure accessibility has improved, particularly road electricity, clean water and sanitation access, according to data from the Lao Consumption and Expenditure Survey in 2018-2019.

Consumption and expenditure of households in Laos have significantly increased, particularly the rise in food consumption and poverty continued to decline, demonstrated by the falling poverty rate, poverty gap and poverty severity, local daily Vientiane Times quoted the survey on Wednesday (July 29).

Overall, household consumption and expenditure have increased significantly, with families slowly shifting their rice consumption to other healthy food, and reducing consumption of their own produce to buy food from markets.

According to the Lao Statistics Bureau, the survey has been conducted every five years since 1992-1993. It sampled 636 villages and 10,176 households with interviews taking place over 12 months from June 2018 to June 2019.

The objective of the survey is to collect and report information on household consumption and expenditure, production and public services access to support monitoring of the National Socio-economic Development Plan, and particularly to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.

The Lao government supported the survey with technical support from the World Bank, according to the daily report.