Over 85% of the population of Ebonyi State reside in the rural heartland, where the economically active workforce is about
38%. The rural workforce income, in different employments, appeared rather small. The precise size and level of the perceived
poverty incidence in Ebonyi State are not known. In a stratified random sampling, the core poverty indices measured to
capture the severity of poverty, were income, consumption, dietary quality, and capacity utilization. Abject poverty lines
established for single-person, four-person and six-person household units were annual income of N359160.00, N939510.00
and N1427880.00 respectively and their corresponding absolute poverty lines established were annual income of
N1077480.00, N2818530.00 and N4283640.00 respectively. Widespread abject poverty level of 90% was observed and the
magnitude of poverty indices obtained provided empirical support to the existence of poverty in the study area. There were
greater income variability among single-person households, while income spread among six-person household units were
more consistent. Rural income was positively, strongly associated with the consumption of carbohydrate diets and alcohol,
attributable to the commodities easy availability, cheap price and excessive manual work performed by family members.
Lorenz curve revealed that 40% of the population earned less than 20% of their minimum required income and or that 70% of
the rural families earned less than 50% of their minimum required income. A Gini coefficient of 0.13, and Engel’s coefficient
of 0.77 confirmed that there were no rural income disparity but there were high poverty incidence respectively. The observed
low rural capacity utilization of 8% was attributed to the perceived low literacy level of 12% and 69% of the population were
predominantly farmers.Aggressive economic policies that can shift rural labour to industrial sector are urgently required to
ease the pressure on rural resources.