The Measurement and Decomposition of Poverty: An Analysis Based on the 1985 Family Expenditure Survey for Northern Ireland

Abstract

This paper uses the 1985 FES sample for Northern Ireland to provide an analysis of low income families in the region. In so doing it attempts to take a first step toward providing regional low income family statistics for the U.K. The statistics provided are also capable of replication for other regions. The paper takes cognizance of recent developments in the theoretical literature on poverty by considering poverty measures which simultaneously encompass issues relating to the number of poor, their depth of poverty and the existing inequality among them. By considering "decomposable" poverty indices, the paper examines the contribution that various subgroups made, in 1985, to poverty in Northern Ireland. Copyright 1991 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd and The Victoria University of Manchester