The Effect of Household Head Characteristics on Poverty and its Intensity in Rural Households of West Azerbaijan Province

In the present study, the impact of the household head's features on poverty and its intensity in rural households was investigated using the data related to income cost of rural households of West Azerbaijan during 2014. To this end, the relative poverty line of the rural households was first estimated in this study. Then, the effect of household characteristics on the intensity of poverty and its incidence was examined as well. The two-step Heckman model was used in this regard through which the impact of variables on household poverty was explored and the likelihood of household poverty was calculated. Afterward, assessing the poverty intensity of poor households, the effect of the study variables on the intensity of poverty of these households was investigated. The results of the study showed that the age, marital status, employment, and literacy level of the household head had a significantly positive effect on decreasing the incidence of poverty of the households. In addition, being married, the higher level of education, and employment of the household head, and also increasing the number of employed members in the household alleviated the severity of poverty among rural households. The main limitation of this study was the lack of direct access to statistics and that extraction of data from micro-households was time-consuming. Considering the high probability of poverty at the beginning of the young age and retirement, actions must be taken to minimize the negative consequences of poverty in these ages through appropriate social security systems. Furthermore, given that being married reduces the incidence of poverty, careful planning is required to increase employment opportunities, to develop the culture of marriage, and therefore, to reduce the level of divorce in the society. In this article, an attempt has been made to study the influence of individual characteristics of the household head on poverty incidence and its severity in rural households of West Azerbaijan Province using the relative poverty line system. Moreover, based on the aim of the study, the severity of poverty and its incidence are to be separately investigated.