Department of Statistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam - Tanzania, P.O. Box 35047, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Akarro, R., Department of Statistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Dar es Salaam - Tanzania, P.O. Box 35047, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Development is positively correlated with poverty. People who are poor are generally less developed compared with the rich. Analysis of poverty levels in Northern and Eastern Zones of Tanzania is hereby presented. These zones were selected because they are a representative of coastal and upcountry cultures respectively. Principal component analysis was used in constructing poverty index. The households possessions that were used are type of the house roof, floor type, distance to water point, type of wall and type of toilet if any. Using principal component analysis, these factors explained about 51% of the total variation. Analysis showed that there were significant differences in poverty levels by regions. One of the determinants proposed to explain differences in poverty levels is time use. Time use variable was obtained from survey data that was collected by the NUFU project. Time use variable was collected for household head, spouse and the two eldest children. The contribution for spouse appeared to be highly significant for Mtwara and Tanga implying that the contribution of spouse to households welfare was eminent. The contribution by head of the household in Arusha and other regions in the Northern zones did not differ much from those by spouse. © EuroJournals, Inc. 2008.