Expenditure analysis
5th - 9th December 2011, Rome
Expenditures
Expenditures are useful as a proxy for wider purchasing power,
which is another important component of food access.
Households that:
i.
devote most of the expenditures to buy food
ii.
have low per capita total expenditures (ie, don’t spend a lot)
iii.
have debts (especially to satisfy basic needs, not for business) and
are not even able to repay them
are likely to have difficulties in acquiring adequate amount of food
(i.e., poor food access).
Concerns

Quality, reliability and accuracy of expenditure data have
often been questioned.

Expenditures vary seasonally (i.e., bulk purchases of staple
foods).

Cleaning/checking expenditure data is very important
especially when it comes to identifying outliers. (consider the
per capita values !)
Data available – questionnaire module

Household Food expenditure


7 days one month recall
Household Non food expenditure

6 months recall

In cash / credit

In kind
Expenditure indicators
1. Total monthly household expenditures
the total amount used for all possible household expenditures, converted
to a monthly basis.
2. Per capita total monthly expenditure
the total HH monthly expenditure divided by the number of HH members
3. Per capita monthly food expenditure
the total HH monthly food expenditure divided by the number of HH
members
Expenditure indicators cont’
4. Expenditure shares on food
The proportion (%) of total expenditures to buy food out of the total
expenditure.
5. Share of expenditures on specific food and non-food items
(i.e., cereals, meat, education, etc.).
Expenditure indicators cont’
6. Expenditure shares on credit
a.
Share (%) of expenditures on credit out of the total expenditure
to understand the importance of credit (how much is credit used?)
b.
Share of food expenditures on credit out of total expenditure on credit
to understand if credit is more used for food or non-food items
Expenditure indicators cont’
7. Per capita expenditure quintiles
“per capita expenditures” are divided into 5 categories, each containing
the same percentage (20%) of households.
eg. Total population = 100 HHs. We sort (ascending) the variable and form
5 groups, each composed of 20 HHs (20*5=100).
The first quintile (20%) is considered to be the poorest in terms of per
capita expenditures. The fifth quintile can be considered as the richest 20%
of the population.
Calculation Steps (1)
Total expenditures on food items: sum all the expenditures for the food items
(e.g., $wheat + $rice +…+$meat = total food exp).
Total expenditures on non-food items (collected on monthly basis): sum of all the
expenditures for the non-food items collected on monthly basis
(e.g., $kerosene + $rent +…+ $tobacco = total non-food exp short term).

Total expenditures on non-food items (collected on long term period): Divide
the long term expenditures by 6 and sum.
(e.g., $edu/6 + $health/6 +…+ $ceremonies/6 = total non-food exp long term).
Calculation steps (2)

Total monthly household expenditures:
monthly total expenditure on food items +
monthly total expenditures on non-food item (short term) +
monthly total expenditures on non food items (long term)
Calculations steps (3)
Per capita total expenditure:
 total monthly household expenditures divided by total number
of household members.
Per capita expenditure quintiles:

transform the variable “Per Capita Total Expenditures” -using “Rank” and
“Ntiles” commands- in order to obtain the quintiles.
Calculations steps (4)
Share of Expenditures on Food: Divide the total food
expenditures by the total expenditures
High Percentage of expenditures on food: the guideline is to
recode the above variable into 4 categories:
 75+:
very high (very vulnerable to food insecurity)
 65–75: high
 50–65: medium
 <50: low
Share of Expenditures on non Food: Sum the short term and
long term expenditures on non food items. Divide the total
non food expenditure by the total expenditures
Calculations steps (5)
Share of Expenditures on Specific Food Items: divide the
expenditure of a specific food item by the total expenditure on all
food items.
Share of Expenditures on Specific Non-Food Items: divide the
expenditure of a specific non food item by the total expenditure on
all non food items.
Types of variables & Statistics
Per capita expenditures and shares of expenditure are
continuous variables
Analysis is based on:
o Means (or medians, if the distribution is not normal)
o Means comparisons




by regions
by food consumption groups
by livelihood groups
by wealth quintiles
Types of variables & Statistics
Expenditure quintiles are categorical variables
Analysis is based on:
o Cross-tabulations




by regions
by food consumption groups
by livelihood groups
by wealth quintiles
Expenditure share: example
Education/School
Fees 15%
Debt Payment 4%
C lothing/Shoes 4%
Cereals 12%
Medical Expenses 8%
Roots and Tubers 3%
Legumes/Pulses 3%
food 36%
Housing/Rent 8%
Grinding/Milling 1%
Oil/Fat/Butter 4%
Electricity 5%
Milk/C heese/Yoghurt
1%
Water 3%
Fuel 5%
Transport 6%
Fruits and Vegetables
3%
Meat/Fish/Eggs 7%
Alcohol/Tobacco 2%
Soap & HH Items 3%
Sugar/Salt 1%
Reporting: Charts
•Pie-charts are the recommended when reporting shares (or percentages) of
particular expenditures because one unique graph displays expenditure distribution
by food and non-food and by specific item.
Dépenses monétaires - Savanes
fêtes/funérailles
14%
équipement de
maison 2%
riz 19%
alcool/tabac 7%
autres céréales 1%
produits d'hygiène
9%
tubercules 2%
habillement 7%
viande 13%
frais main d'oeuvre
5%
équipement
productif 5%
poisson 11%
47%
A lim e nt a ire
intrants 7%
arachides 1%
légumes 4%
amendes/taxes 1%
transport 5%
lait/oeufs 4%
huile cuisson 7%
dette 6%
carburant/pétrole
20%
maïs 4%
sucre 12%
soins médicaux 8%
éducation 2%
condiments 16%
aliments
consommés dehors
5%
Graphing
CFA/capita/month
Expenditure per capita/month
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Poor
Borderline
Food Consumption Groups
Acceptable
Expenditure by Consumption group and Asset wealth
100%
90%
80%
70%
% funeral
60%
% educ
% debt
50%
% health
40%
% other
30%
20%
% food
40.6%
43.5%
39.1%
39.3%
41.3%
40.1%
Poor
Borderline
Adequate
Poor
Medium
Rich
10%
0%
Consumption
Asset wealth
Expenditure table
Tableau 1 : Dépenses monétaires mensuelles
Médiane
des
dépenses
monétaires
totales
(en
CFA)
Médiane des dépenses
par tête (en CFA)
Moyen Cavally
55 119
5 854
Savanes
56 992
4 901
Bafing
34 614
3 097
Denguélé
54 860
4 226
Haut Sassandra
44 863
4 773
Lacs
53 433
4 664
Marahoué
57 963
5 552
N'zi Comoé
61 525
5 630
Zanzan
47 650
4 464
Worodougou
50 850
4 693
52 700
4 825
Région
Total