Solomon Islands - Asia & the Pacific

Solomon Islands: Analysis of Poverty from 2005/2006 HIES106. Table 20 provides an analysis of all females byexpenditure decile in the urban centres (Honiaraand Provincial) and the rural areas. This indicatesin particular that 39% of all urban femalesunder 15 years were living in households in thelowest three deciles. This compares with 36.4%of those aged 15 years and above in thesedeciles. The situation was similar in the ruralareas where the corresponding figures were34% and 35.7%. In contrast the table indicatesthat, notwithstanding the higher proportionof female headed households in the highestquintile in Honiara, in aggregate females areunder-represented in the highest quintiles in allboth age groups and in both urban and ruralareas.7.4 Children in Poverty107. The survey results indicate that there were223,603 (41.9%) children under the age of15 (115,020 boys and 108,583 girls, a ratio of106 boys per 100 girls) in the total estimatedpopulation of 533,671. Of these, 24,990 childrenwere to be found in Honiara (equivalent to36.1% of the Honiara population) and 6,796in the provincial urban centres (41.7% of theprovincial urban population). The remainderbeing the large majority, 191,817, were in therural areas, and represented 42.8% of the ruralpopulation.108. Overall it is estimated that 32.9% of all childrenlive in HH in the lowest three expendituredeciles. Girls account for 33.5% of all childrenin these HH compared with 32.4% of boys. Incomparison 24.8% of girls and 24.0% of boys livein HH in the highest three expenditure deciles.Children are also slightly over-represented inthe lowest quintile, with 22.6% of children being in these HH. These results are illustrated in Chart 12.109. The household analysis indicates that children in Honiara are more likely to be living in the poorest householdsthan in other parts of the country. In Honiara 38.7% of children live in households in the three lowest expendituredeciles. This compares with 34.3% of those in provincial urban households and 33.6% in rural households.32Estimation of National Poverty Lines and Poverty Incidence