Poverty Mapping in Georgia

Poverty mapping has a huge potential to improve geographical policy targeting and to enable efficient resource allocations. The approach has been developed and used as a policy tool in more than 60 countries worldwide. This joint work between the Georgia Statistical Office and the World Bank is the first attempt in Georgia to estimate poverty beyond the regional level and rural-urban disaggregation. The objective of this note is to motivate and initiate the discussion on the production of the poverty maps and its potential usage as a policy tool in Georgia. To do this, the note presents the results based on the two major methodologies used in this area of research: (i) the unit-level approach, also known as Elbers, Lanjouw and Lanjouw methodology, and (ii) the area-level approach, also known as Fay-Herriot methodology. The note also describes differences in methodologies applied, provides robustness checks and possibilities in refining the analysis, and discusses some limitations and potential bias in the data used. The document includes technical discussions in a concise and accessible manner, so it can also serve as a guidance for economist and statistical practitioners who conduct the exercise.