Haitian Society Today: A socioeconomic status report from the ECVH

1
Haitian Society Today A socio-economic status
report from the ECVH

• Interim Cooperation Framework Identification
  Exercise.
• Port-au-Prince, May 9th 2004

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Étude sur les Conditions de Vie en Haïti
Dimensions

• Nationwide, household sample survey of 7812
  households
• Data collected in 2001
• 92 percent response rate
• Representative on the department level
• Outputs
• Tabulation report Published
• Database available at ICC
• Draft analytical report available at ICC
• Also used for
• Poverty Profile (MEF 2003)
• Input to political dialogue on poverty and
  development priorities, Oslo

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Outline of presentation

• Resources What is there to build on?
• Physical, human, social capitals
• How are resources used today?
• Labour force and income sources
• What are the results of current adaptations?
• Well being, income poverty

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An agricultural economy facing change

• Small-holding agriculture is still Haitis
  economic backbone
• Two-thirds of the population live in rural areas
  (down from 75 percent in 1982)
• Three-quarters of rural population have access to
  land, mostly owned
• Subsistence production on small units with no
  capital inputs
• Informal, rentier urban economy
• Employment rates are low overall one-third of
  income is transfers
• Two-thirds of workers are self-employed more
  wage-work in PauP
• But jobs, services, income levels attracts
  migrants to the capital half of resident
  population were born outside
• A Farewell to Farms?
• Land erosion threatens rural productive base
• Subdivision of land has reached its limit
• Transfers retire workers from low-productivity
  agriculture not invested in agricultural capital
• Education pulls people from farming to
  non-agricultural rural and urban sectors

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Trois ménages ruraux sur quatre ont accès à une
parcelle

• En moyenne 1,8 parcelle par ménage agricole
• Lexploitation moyenne est de 1,8 ha / 1,4
  carreau
• Une corrélation proche entre le nombre de
  parcelles et la taille totale de lexploitation
• Mais différences régionales Artibonite possède
  le nombre le plus faible de parcelles et les
  exploitations les plus grandes
• No strong income-land concentration

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Une grande majorité des parcelles sont dirigés
par les propriétaires

• 82 des parcelles (ou terres) sont la propriété
  des exploitants eux-mêmes
• Des types de tenure combinés sont rares
• 76 des exploitants possèdent toute leur terre
• 7 sont des métayers
• Mais pas de titres de propriété pour plusieurs
  des parcelles possédées
• 40 de lopins nont pas de titre formel de
  possession

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Machette et houe sont les outils agricoles les
plus répandus

• 95 des agriculteurs ont accès à une machette et
  la plupart en possède une
• 76 ont accès à léquipement de base du fermier
  la machette et la houe
• Seulement 60 possède les deux
• Léquipement mécanisé fait pratiquement défaut
• 5 ont accès à une charrue pour la plupart
  louée ou empruntée
• Only 15 percent of cultivators apply modern
  agro-inputs
• Mostly among rice farmers in the Artibonite
• Production is exclusively non-export
• Corn, haricot, petite mille (sorghum), plaintain,
  manioc
• Single-crop production only among Artibonite rice
  farmers

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60 des terres ont un risque dérosion plus élevé
que la moyenne

• La majorité des ménages considèrent lérosion
  comme une problème sérieux
• Plus de 90 des ménages utilisent principalement
  le bois ou le charbon pour la cuisson

Données UTSIG
Carte / Donnes UTSIG
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Key infrastructure is absent outside of Port au
Prince

• Access to infrastructure is limited overall
• 8 access to piped water
• And concentrated in the PauP
• Where quality is poor

10
Households in countryside and regional towns own
their dwellings

• 90 percent of rural households own their dwelling
• But half lack legal documentation
• In Aire Metropolitain, the majority rent
• Across the income distribution, but more
  ownership in highest quintile

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Literacy rates have improved significantly

• Adult literacy now stands at 54 percent
• Urban-rural gap has decreased
• Women have caught up on men
• Gender gap is gone among 15-19 year old

12
Nearly half of rural children are not enrolled in
primary school

• Net primary enrolment is 60
• Rural-urban gap persists
• Gender gap is gone
• And women may be passing men
• 75 percent of children have more education than
  their parents

13
The schooling generation faces serious quality
problems

• Late start (graph)
• Maxmimum primary enrolment reached at the age of
  12
• Incomplete cycles
• 84 des 15-24 ans ont réussi la première année
  fondamentale, 50 ont terminé lécole primaire et
  un quart seulement ont achevé les trois cycles de
  lécole fondamentale (9ème année)
• Teachers training
• 74 percent of teachers do not have the
  baccalaureate
• In private schools, only 12 percent of teachers
  have baccaluareate
• (Source IHSI 2000)

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Insuffisance pondérale plus répandue parmi les
femmes haïtiennes que les autres femmes de
lAmérique Latine

• 11 pour cent des femmes haïtiennes ont un poids
  insuffisant
• Nord-Ouest, Grand- Anse, Nord-Est have highest
  rates
• La surcharge pondérale est un problème à venir
  en Haïti
• Similar decrease in malnutrition among children
  found by DHS surveys
• From 27-28 (94/95) to 16-18 (2000)
• Source EMMUS II III

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Health status deteriorates quickly from the mid
40s

• 29 percent of adult population have a reduced
  mobility level
• 17 percent of adults have major mobility problem,
  but increases rapidly from the 40s
• Only 25 percent of adult women report own health
  as good or very good
• Half of those with acute illness in the past two
  weeks did not seek help, mainly because of the
  costs

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Macro social cohesion threatened in urban areas

• 60 percent of urban dwellers feel personal fear
  in their own homes
• But household level inter-personal relations are
  strong important safety nets
• Fear of crime less widespread in rural areas
• The importance of collective, voluntary work
  teams show social strengths

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Transfers reduce labour force participation

• Economic activity rates are low and unemployment
  is high
• Only 45 percent of adults are employed
• Total LF participation is 59 percent
• Permitted by large inflow of transfers
• 31 percent of households have close relatives
  abroad mainly US
• In Aire Metropolitain, half of households have
  close relatives abroad
• One-third of annual, urban household income is
  transfer

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Majority of workers are self-employed in
agriculture, trade

• 79 percent of the workforce are self-employed
• In Aire Metropolitain, 44 percent are wage
  workers, including 7 percent in public sector
• In urban areas, commerce and trade is dominant
  sector (37-38 )
• Manufacturing employs 7 percent of workforce, 15
  percent in Aire Metropolitain
• Agriculture now accounts for less than half of
  national workforce (44 )
• Even in rural areas, only about half of
  households live from farming
• Migrants are not deterred by high unemployment in
  PauP
• Half of residents in the Aire Metropolitain not
  born here
• In the southern departements, 40 percent leave
  before their mid 20s
• But overall, population is stationary 85 percent
  live where they were born
• Migrants catch up with permanent residents on
  education, jobs, income

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Income poverty is pervasive outside of Aire
Metropolitain

• 67 percent of rural population live in extreme
  poverty
• Nord Est, Nord Ouest have highest poverty rates
• Consumption poverty may have decreased during the
  1990s
• And expenditure data would yield lower poverty
  rates

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And income inequality is extreme

• Reflecting huge income differences between and
  within rural and urban areas
• But important livelihood security mechanisms
  exist in rural areas
• Land ownership (82 )
• Home ownership (90)
• Plot diversification (1.9 per farm)
• Crop diversification (3.6 per farm)
• Self-consumption (28 of rural HH inc)

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Focus on the fundamentals

• Results demonstrate acute deficiencies in
  fundamental conditions for economic growth in
  general and a heritage of rural neglect in
  particular
• In the first phase, policies should focus on
  improving those fundamentals, notably
• Infrastructure electricity, roads, garbage
  collection
• Law enforcement
• Primary education
• Special emphasis must be given to rural areas in
  all sector policies and state must engage
  agricultural sector
• On longer term, development policies must make
  difficult decisions on the role of agriculture
  versus other sectors
• Allocation of required investments must be
  weighed against other needs and sectors
• Tariff protection policies must assess
  distributive impact
• Livelihood security easily disrupted by
  interventions