Sovannroeun Samreth
"Findings from a Preliminary Survey of Poor Households in Rural Cambodia: A Case of a Commune in Prey Veng Province"
Cambodia has achieved a remarkable economic growth over the last decade. With the average growth rate of around 6% between 2005 and 2015 based on the World Bank’s data, it has moved from the low-income group to the lower middle-income group recently. However, its poverty situation, especially in rural areas, is still a national issue, and poverty reduction is a main strategic objective in the government’s policy agenda. The information on financial diaries of poor households can provide good implications for designing policy to combat poverty. This importance motivates our study and a year-long project of the daily record of financial diaries of poor households in rural Cambodia was proposed. Specifically, the information on income sources, expenditure behaviors, financial transaction, etc., is being recorded. In preparing for this year-long survey, a preliminary survey on randomly selected poor-level-1 households was conducted in 2016. This study introduces the results from this preliminary survey. It includes the information and discussion on household structure, housing condition, education level, employment characteristics, land ownership, income sources, expenditure patterns, access to finance, etc. The implications from the discussion provide various important insights into the livelihood of poor households in rural Cambodia.
