Comparison of poverty structures between the extreme and the general poor in Korea

Abstract

This paper aims to compare poverty levels and structures of two different poor groups, the extreme and the general poor, and ultimately to analyze factors to determine the likelihood of being to the two groups. In order to achieve these purposes, the study, first of all, used ‘2006 panel study sample and divided the sample into three groups of the poor: the extreme poor, the general poor, the non poor, according to the median income. Secondly, the study performed a multinominal logit analysis to find out what factors affect people to be in one of three poor groups. Results showed that, in terms of the market income, it was estimated that 24.1% of people is the poor and 11.8% of people was the extreme poor. This study also found that the households with non-elderly householder, more disabled members and less employed members were more likely to be in the extreme poor than the general poor.