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Rural poverty in Sao Tome and Principe

Data on poverty and vulnerability in the country are scarce. The most recent household budget survey dates back to 1995, when an estimated 40 per cent of the population was living below the poverty line. About 33 per cent of them were living in extreme poverty, and a large number of people were living just above the poverty level. In general poverty was widespread in rural and urban fringe areas.

Little is known about the current situation, but the decline in per capita income through 1997 and the deterioration of social conditions in that period led to a worsening of poverty. Fluctuations in world cocoa prices have triggered an increase in the incidence of poverty in rural areas as peoples’ incomes decrease along with export earnings. As a result, the flow of migration to urban areas has become stronger.  

Although incomes are low, the country has a relatively satisfactory rank on the United Nations’ Development Programme Human Development Index, compared to the rest of western and central Africa. In the 2007-2008 index, it ranks 122 among 177 countries. This is mainly the result of strong investments in health and education during the socialist regime from 1975 to 1985, which continued later through international aid. During the 1990s the indices for education and health took a downturn because of economic instability and reduced public spending.

Who are the country’s poor people and where are they?

The country’s Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for 2000-02 identifies three particularly vulnerable groups:

• plantation workers and their families
• households headed by women, who represented about 35 per cent of all households in 2000
• elderly people living alone

Plantation workers and their families are vulnerable because their incomes are low, they are not allowed to cultivate their own plots of land or lack the tools to do so, and they have limited access to credit. The lack of infrastructure has hindered the development of markets for agricultural products and access to social services.

In households headed by women, household members depend mainly on low-paying occasional jobs in the informal sector, and in rural areas many households subsist by collecting fruits and roots. While women represented about 34 per cent of the labour force in agriculture in 1994, only a small proportion of them benefited from the land distribution programme.

Pensions and subsidies for elderly people are low, and people over 60 who live in isolation are extremely poor and vulnerable.

Why are they poor?

The causes of poverty in Sao Tome and Principe have their roots in economic and social factors, including:

• low income
• lack of productive assets and means of production
• lack of infrastructure
• lack of social capital

As a result of these constraints, poor people have few, if any, opportunities for participation in economic activities that would generate the income they need to improve their living conditions.

(Sources: IFAD, IMF)