The Rwanda Poverty Update Report published in December 2006 presented results on
trends in poverty in Rwanda between 2000/01 and 2005/06, the years of the two
major recent household surveys, the Enquêtes Permanentes sur les Conditions de Vie
des ménages. The Update Report focused on three main dimensions: poverty and
inequality in monetary terms; social indicators; and economic activities/time use; in
each case focusing on changes between the periods covered by the two surveys. All
three of these dimensions are important aspects of poverty in their own right; this note
though explains the methods used for the calculation of the basic poverty and
inequality measures. This is particularly relevant for the analysis in chapter 2 of the
Poverty Update Report; but it is also relevant for the definition of the quintile groups
used in the analysis of other variables.