Income Distribution and Poverty in Jordanian Nomadic Communities

This study aims to measure the patterns of income and consumption expenditures prevailing in the nomadic region of Jordan. It also aims to measure the level of poverty and welfare by calculating the income distribution equality and then it measures the difference in poverty levels between the community groups. Samples of 318 families out of 3140 families were selected randomly from seven remote communities in the southern nomadic region. The data were collected using the technique of personal interviews by the aid of two standard questionnaires designed for this purpose. Descriptive statistical analysis, poverty gap, Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient and Pigou s measures were used to achieve the study purpose. The study concluded that the difference between families’ income can be attributed to the difference between the types of work, not to the working rate and due to the families’ capital. The study showed that the family expenditure mean for a family with an average of 7.4 people is JD 239 per month. The abject poverty line reached up to JD162 per family per month. The absolute poverty line was JD 392 per family per month. While the Gini coefficient was 0.2 for expenditure and 0.3 for the income. The level of socio-economic welfare was 191 degree measured by Pigou scale. The study also showed that the percentage of abject poverty in the sample is 3.3% and the percentage of absolutely-poor families is 13.5%. The reasons behind the family poorness from the families perspective are that 64% of them are unemployed, or because of having a large family size and female-headed households. Whereas 68% of the studied families think that providing them with job opportunities is the best solution to overcome the poverty problem