SL poverty line touches Rs 13,810 per person per month

The official poverty line of a Sri Lankan citizen has been determined for October at Rs. 13,810 per month, a report issued by the Census and Statistics Department (DCS) said.

This amount considers the minimum expenditure of a lower income per person per month to fulfil their basic needs.

District Official Poverty lines have been revised based on Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 2012/13 and using National Consumer Price Index (NCPI).

The HIES which is a year-long national survey is conducted by the DCS once in three years and the latest survey was conducted in 2019. HIES is the main source of data used to calculate poverty indices in Sri Lanka.
The DCS also applies an internationally recognized method “Cost of Basic Need (CBN) Approach” to calculate the Official Poverty Line (OPL) on consumption based on absolute terms.

The OPL which was established on HIES-2002 data by the DCS has been used since 2004 to measure poverty.

The OPL is an absolute poverty line which is fixed at a specific welfare level that is; a person who meets a recommended minimal nutritional intake (2030 Kcal per day) to compare over time with household food and non-food consumption and expenditure data.

The revised official poverty line adopting the current living standard does not affect the current living pattern of people.

But it can improve the devising of policies to alleviate poverty more preciously.

Price differences exist not only over time but also across districts.

The spatial price indices are constructed at district levels for the survey periods and reflect the district poverty lines adjusted to the national poverty line for price differences.

Accordingly, after adjusting the price differences across districts, the DCS releases district poverty lines for each month.

District Official Poverty Lines have been revised based on 2012/13 HIES and spatial price indices of HIES 2019.

The official poverty line by District for October 2022 is as follows, 14894 for Colombo, 14818 for Gampaha, 14496 for Kalutara, 14018 for Kandy, 13999 for Matale, 14522 for Nuwara Eliya, 14031 for Galle, 13487 for Matara, 13417 for Hambantota, 13477 for Jaffna, 14145 for Mannar, 13796 for Vavunia, 13713 for Mulative, 13342 for Killinochchi, 13885 for Baticoloa, 13920 for Ampara, 13455 for Trincomalee, 13566 for Kurunegala, 14097 for Puttalam, 13477 for Anuradhapura, 13513 for Polonnaruwa, 13912 for Badulla, 13204 for Manaragala, 13871 for Ratnapura and 14440 for Kegalle. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama)