Poverty mapping in Latin America: ECLAC experiences on small area estimation

Abstract

Poverty mapping is a valuable tool for governments and international organizations to identify the geographical areas and population groups that are most deprived or vulnerable. This approach can lead to designing and monitoring development policies more effectively. This article presents the recent experience of the Statistics Division of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in using Small Area Estimation (SAE) methods to combine information from household surveys, censuses and satellite imagery to deliver poverty estimates at the provincial and municipal levels, which could not be attained using the household surveys alone.