A presentation on poverty measurement in Sweden was made by Björn Halleröd, University of Gothenburg, at the Second Peter Townsend Memorial Conference, Measuring Poverty: The State of the Art, in 2011.
In 1992, Halleröd undertook a study looking at which aspects of Swedish standards of living were seen as necessities and those who could not afford these items. The table below gives a summary of the findings (final sample size 793 persons).
|
% |
% |
| Medical treatment and medicine if necessary |
99.2 |
0.5 |
| Examination by dental surgeon once a year |
96.5 |
1.6 |
| Vacuum cleaner |
96.1 |
0.6 |
| Glasses, change of glasses if necessary |
96.0 |
2.2 |
| Telephone |
95.6 |
0.3 |
| Householders’ comprehensive insurance |
95.6 |
0.9 |
| A hot meal each day |
95.2 |
0.9 |
| Washing machine |
92.1 |
2.6 |
| Freezer |
90.2 |
2.0 |
| Public transport for one’s needs |
87.9 |
3.7 |
| Modern dwelling (bath/shower, WC, central heating, stove and refrigerator) |
84.4 |
1.4 |
| Self-contained accommodation |
81.5 |
1.6 |
| Not more than two persons in each bedroom |
76.7 |
3.2 |
| A hobby or leisure activity |
73.6 |
5.6 |
| New, not second-hand clothes |
73.5 |
6.5 |
| TV |
70.2 |
0.8 |
| Presents for friends and family at least once a year |
69.5 |
1.3 |
| Daily paper |
65.2 |
5.7 |
| A hair cut every third month |
63.2 |
3.7 |
| A holiday away from home for one week a year, not with relatives or friends |
54.5 |
15.1 |
| Car |
47.3 |
5.9 |
| Balcony or garden |
47.4 |
4.3 |
| Celebrations on special occasions |
43.9 |
4.8 |
| A ‘best outfit’ for special occasions |
43.5 |
3.7 |
| Save at least 500SEK each month |
29.4 |
29.8 |
| A special meal once a week |
24.6 |
5.8 |
| Friends and family round for a meal once a month |
23.1 |
12.1 |
| Stereo equipment |
23.1 |
4.0 |
| Private pension insurance |
22.2 |
28.1 |
| A night out once a fortnight |
17.9 |
14.6 |
| Clothes that in some degree correspond with fashion |
15.4 |
3.9 |
| Go to a theatre, cinema or concert at least once a month |
12.9 |
19.0 |
| Dishwasher |
12.0 |
11.2 |
| Access to summer cottage |
10.8 |
15.0 |
| Video |
6.6 |
6.7 |
| Microwave oven |
6.2 |
10.1 |
Source: Björn Halleröd (1994) A New Approach to the Direct Consensual Measurement of Poverty.
From this data set, Halleröd developed the Proportional Deprivation Index (PDI). In the consensual method as developed by Mack and Lansley (see ‘How poor is too poor? Defining poverty’), only items which more than 50 per cent of the population identified as necessities are used as deprivation indicators, what Halleröd calls a Majority Needs Index (MNI). In the PDI all items from the preliminary list are included, but each item is given a weight that is the proportion of the population identifying it as a necessity. Halleröd compared the results using an MNI with those using a PDI index and found a high level of consistency between the two approaches, both between the two measures and between the measures and other indicators of material hardship and income.
See also:
Halleröd, B. (1994) A New Approach to the Direct Consensual Measurement of Poverty, Social Policy Research Centre Discussion Paper No. 50.
Comparisons between Sweden, Britain and Bangladesh can be found in ‘Consensual poverty in Britain, Sweden and Bangladesh: a comparative study’, a paper by A.I. Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, Professor of Sociology at the University of Dhaka.
PSE:UK is a major collaboration between the University of Bristol, Heriot-Watt University, The Open University, Queen's University Belfast, University of Glasgow and the University of York working with the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. ESRC Grant RES-060-25-0052.
