DUSHANBE, July 27, 2010, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan tops Central Asia’s nations in terms of the poverty rate, the head of the department for price registration and family budget studies within the Agency for Statistics, Barot Turayev, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
“According to the findings of a survey conducted in 2009, the poverty rate was estimated to be 46.7 percent in Tajikistan (6-7 percent fall compared to 2007, when the poverty rate stood at 53 percent),” said Turayev, “The survey findings have shown that 13.8 percent of the country’s population lived beyond the poverty line in 2009.”
The poverty rate in rural areas is much higher that the urban rate – 50.8 percent versus 36.7 percent, he said.
According to the survey, the living wage in the country is 6.40 somoni per day (this includes the minimum consumption standard taking into account both food products and nonfoods), and the monthly living wage is 195 somoni per one family member.
Turayev noted that annual meat requirements per capita are estimated at 60 kilograms, while the averages for meat consumption in Tajikistan are only 20 kilograms, and on the contrary, the averages for flour consumption per capita in Tajikistan are 160 kilograms, while the annual flour requirements per capita are estimated at 110 kilograms.
In the meantime, the international poverty line is defined as equal to less than US$4.00 per day, the international destitution (or extreme poverty) line is defined as equal to less than US$2.00 per day, and the international extreme destitution line is defined as equal to less than US$1.00 per day.
