Quick Poverty Score

Assesses the prevalence of poverty among clients of health service programs.

The Quick Poverty Score (QPS) is a simple, easy-to-use tool that health service programs can use to assess the prevalence of poverty among their clients.

Using three components, QPS provides a snapshot of uptake of program services by those living below the national poverty line, below U.S. $2 per day, and below U.S. $1 per day:

  • a short survey, with 10 simple, objective questions on housing conditions, household assets, and household amenities (such as “What are the dwelling’s floors made of?” or “What is the main source of lighting for your main living rooms?”);
  • a data entry template in Microsoft Excel for entering, storing, and analyzing survey responses; and
  • a prediction model that calculates the rate of poverty among program beneficiaries at three separate poverty lines — the national poverty line, the U.S. $1 per day line, and the U.S. $2 per day line.

Following are QPS user guides explaining how to apply the QPS and interpret outputs in 10 countries, with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for each country (Spanish translations are available for Honduras and Guatemala):

Azerbaijan user’s guide and spreadsheet

Bangladesh user’s guide and spreadsheet (2010 links to updated versions at www.microfinance.com)

Bolivia user’s guide and spreadsheet (2010 links to updated versions at www.microfinance.com)

Guatemala user’s guide and spreadsheet (Spanish user’s guide and spreadsheet)

Haiti user’s guide and spreadsheet

Honduras user’s guide and spreadsheet (Spanish user’s guide and spreadsheet)

India user’s guide and spreadsheet

Pakistan user’s guide and spreadsheet (2010 links to updated versions at www.microfinance.com)

Philippines user’s guide and spreadsheet (2010 links to updated versions at www.microfinance.com)

Uganda user’s guide and spreadsheet

Filed under: Poverty