The level and distribution of poverty in Ethiopia are declining from time to time and remarkable economic growth has been observed. According to the results obtained from the 1999/00 economic growth has been observed. According to the results obtained from the 1999/00Household Income, Consumption, and Expenditure Survey and Welfare Monitoring Survey of the Central Statistical Agency (CSA), about 44 percent of the total populations (45 percent in rural areas and 37 percent in urban areas) were found to be below the poverty line, while the 2004/05 surveys showed that 39 percent of the total population were under the poverty line out of which 39 percent in rural areas and 35 percent in urban areas. The interim report on poverty analysis study prepared by MoFED using the 2010/11 HCES and WMS reveals that the poverty line declined to 29 percent.

The country together with development partners has put poverty reduction strategies high on the agenda and working firmly on the implementation program over the past two decades. The government accordingly coordinated the design and implementation of the Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP) from the year 2002/03 to 2004/05 and a Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to the End Poverty (PASDEP) from the year 2005/06 to 2009/10. On the basis of experience gained, the council of ministers and the House of People's Representatives have adopted the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) as the national planning documents of the country for the period 2010/11 to 2014/15. Moreover, the current HCES and WMS surveys also used as a springboard for monitoring and evaluation of the five years growth and transformation plan of Ethiopia.

In order to meet the data needs of the Welfare Monitoring System, CSA has been conducting Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (HCES) and Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS) since 1995/96. HCES and WMS surveys provide crucially useful and poverty-related information for the designing and monitoring and evaluation of the country's poverty reduction strategy, Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP), various socio-economic policies and programs, and hence monitor the progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The two surveys are inseparable and provide basic data that reflect the standard of living of households, individuals, and society as a whole.

HCES basically provides data on consumption and expenditure of households that reflect the income dimension of poverty while WMS aims at providing socioeconomic data that reflects the non-income dimension of poverty. WMS provides basic indicators on the various socio-economic areas including health, education, access to and utilization, and satisfaction of basic facilities/services and related non-income aspects of poverty. WMS has been conducted together with HCES in 1995/96, 1999/2000, and 2004/05 and has also been carried out alone in1997 and 1998. Several reports have been produced based on the previous surveys including the statistical reports produced by CSA. These are reports on the 1995/96 HICES and WMS, report on the 1999/2000 HICES and WMS, summary reports for the 1999/2000 HICES and WMS and report on the 1998 WMS survey as well as the two in-depth analytical reports on the poverty situation of the country produced by Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. The 2011 survey has been improved to accommodate user's needs as much as possible. The new feature in the current survey includes harmful traditional practices (for household members aged 0-14 years).

Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia (CSA). Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS 2011), URL:http://www.csa.gov.et/survey-report/category/66-wms-2011

The Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS) of the year 2011 was the fifth round of WMS conducted in Ethiopia. This survey data capture information on major welfare indicators including basic population characteristics variables such as residence (urban vs rural), Sex, Age groups, and households size, education indicators variables such as literacy and numeracy, educational enrolment and attainment, health and health-related indicators variables such as age groups vs Illness, information related to HIV/AIDS-related Indicators, 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, area identification and data on related to harmful traditions which are vital inputs in the process of monitoring and evaluation of policies, particularly in poverty reduction strategies. The data were collected using a structured questionnaire by trained survey teams from selected households and individuals.

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