Methodological Issues in Assessing Poverty among Older People: Insights from Uganda

Valérie Golaz, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Two types of poverty indicators are used in developing countries.In both cases, poverty is usually measured at household level, in relation to data being produced at household level. However, older people are often in a peculiar situation in the household and in their family in general. In the literature on older people in Africa, two trends coexist. On one hand, some have pointed out the central place of older people in kin systems and the respect that was due to them. On the other hand, others have pointed at cases where older people were marginalized or just left out. On the basis of a corpus of qualitative interviews led in various settings in Uganda, in 2011-2012, this paper aims at shedding light on the methodological difficulties raised by attempting to measure the poverty of older adults, as well as bringing forward elements that play a role in identifying poverty situations.