Public and Private Transfers and Their Importance in Poverty

This paper examines the effects of public and private transfers on poverty indicators. The high incidence of these transfers—both in terms of the number of people receiving them and the amounts involved—justifies this study. We use a method that allows us to estimate individuals’ income without these transfers and then identify the change in poverty indicators resulting from the absence of these resources. The findings indicate that the average poverty rate between 2015 and 2016 would be five percentage points higher than the official figures in the absence of these transfers, with private transfers accounting for the largest share of this difference. Furthermore, a significant percentage of private transfers originate from neighboring regions, which is why a high proportion of the population living in poverty benefits from economic growth in other regions.