In Botswana, poverty is mainly a structural problem which arises
from the pattern of economic growth. This paper is a contribution to
the understanding of the nature of poverty in Botswana. The analysis
is at two levels – the policy level and household level. While it is not
wrong to base the success of poverty reduction initiatives on private
sector development, the stark reality is that little has been achieved
to date. In addition to the policy environment, this paper examined
household characteristics that contribute to poverty in Botswana.
A logistic regression model was estimated using urban food security
baseline survey data from Gaborone to examine demographic, social
and economic factors that determine household poverty. The estimation
results showed a positive and significant relationship between household
size, total household consumption expenditure and household poverty
status. These results also carry significant information relating to the
design of specific programmes targeted at addressing poverty at this
level.