Identifying Social Group-wise Household-Level Determinants of Poverty in Rural Odisha Using Logistic Regression Model

The purpose of this study is to identify the social group-wise most important determinants affecting rural household poverty of Odisha, one of the poorest states of India, by using household-level 68th round primary data of National Sample Survey (NSS) in India on consumer expenditure, 2011–2012. A logistic regression analysis is used to determine the relationship between dependent variable poverty (poor or non-poor) and a set of characteristics of individual households as independent (explanatory/predictor) variables. The result shows that probability of being poor is found to be highly influenced by household size, percentage of monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) on food items and sources of energy for lighting in all social groups. Besides, level of education of head of the household, sex and age of the head of the household are also the key determinants of poverty in rural Odisha.