Ethiopia is one of those countries that suffer the hardest hits of poverty. Persistent war and drought and inappropriate policies are presumed to enhance the extent of poverty in the country. According to the report on the poverty situation in Ethiopia which was based on the 1995/96 Household Income, Consumption, and Expenditure Survey(HICE) and the 1996 Welfare Monitoring Survey 45.5 percent of the total population are found to live below the poverty line. The report has also revealed the disparity among urban-rural residents in which 47.5 percent of the urban population. Hence, the issue of poverty reduction would necessarily be an agenda of higher priority for the government and policymakers.

As in the case of a number of Africa countries that undertook the Social Dimensions of Adjustment (SDA) program, the issue of welfare monitoring in Ethiopia arose as part of the Economic Reform Program (ERP) currently being undertaken in the country. The ERP specifically and strongly underlies the effects of the reform program on poverty and the analytical capacity of the government to monitor such effects. To this end, the government has set up a Welfare Monitoring System (WMS) by mid-1994.

In view of the wider context of the problem, the establishment of the WMS is envisaged to consist of the following major elements:

• establish an information system that provides a continuous picture of the poverty scenario in the country;
• indicate the impact of reform programs on the level of household welfare;
• establish follow-up procedures on the various programs and activates targeted towards poverty alleviation; and
• conduct a regular statistical survey to assess, in particular, the efficiency of targeted programs.

In order to fulfill the data needs to monitor households' socioeconomic welfare and the ongoing economic reforms, the Central Statistical Authority (CSA) has been conducting Welfare Monitoring Surveys starting from 1996. Reports of the 1996 and 1998 Welfare Monitoring Surveys have also been disseminated. The Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS) 2000, like the previous ones, focuses on a wide range of socioeconomic indicators, which are vital inputs of monitoring and evaluation of policies, particularly in poverty reduction strategies. The report is presented in two volumes. Volume I presents results based on an individual database and Volume II presents the findings based on household databases. Proxy estimate of households' domestic expenditure obtained by recall interview (with reference periods of 7 days and a month prior to the date of interview) is used to classify households (on a quintile basis) for the purpose of tabulating the results.

• cross-sectional survey
• anthropometry
• living standard
• primary sampling units
• region
• child care and breast feeding
• Ethiopia
• gender
• literacy
• malnutrition
• poverty
• rural areas
• urban areas
• Welfare Monitoring Survey
• stratified two-stage sample design
• Assets
• BCG vaccines
• Child anthropometry
• Cooking fuels
• DTP vaccines
• Diarrhea
• Education
• Education access
• Fever
• Health care access
• Health care use
• Height
• Household air pollution
• Housing
• Housing conditions
• Housing materials
• Immunization
• Measles vaccines
• Oral rehydration therapy
• Polio vaccines
• Population characteristics
• Sanitation
• Transportation
• Vitamin A supplements
• Waste disposal
• Water supply
• Weight
• Weight change
• Summary birth history
• Diarrheal diseases

"Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia (CSA). Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS 2000)", URL: http://www.csa.gov.et/survey-report/category/64-wms-2000

The Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS) 2000 was the third round of WMS conducted in Ethiopia. The survey data capture information on a wide range of socioeconomic indicators such as health, education, nutritional status of the children (anthropometric measurements) and immunization, on access to selected facilities including a food market, schools, post office, health center, transport service, source of drinking water, telephone, milling service and source of firewood, amenities and assets and area identification, which are vital inputs in the process of monitoring and evaluation of policies, particularly in poverty reduction strategies. The data was collected using questionnaires by trained survey teams from selected households.

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