Brunei
Bandar Seri Begawan | May 2015
BND 5.52, BND 0.93 (USD 0.69, EUR 0.62) for food.
This is based on per capita per-day basis of the lowest income decile’s average income, and their household expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages (excluding restaurants).
Brunei has no official poverty line. In 2011, there were talks of plans to set up a country poverty line, using data collected from the national household expenditure survey. The government formed a special committee to study poverty in 2012, and an Action Plan for Eradicating Poverty has been set out by the Poverty Issue Special Committee. However, a poverty line definition does not seem to have come through at the point that the case study was undertaken. For this project, a proxy was taken by using the lowest income decile’s average monthly income (referenced in Brunei’s UN Millennium Development Goals report, updated to 2010/11 figures).
There are different official welfare assistance for low income households administered by Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS), through the Community Development Department (JAPEM) and Brunei Darussalam Islamic Religious Council (MUIB). These organizations have differing assistance criteria. There are also assistance programs run by NGOs. According to statistics released in 2012 by JAPEM and MUIB, 20,790 persons were living in poverty; this works out to an incidence rate of about 5.04%.
Note: Latest available standards and exchange rates were taken as of May 2015, when the photography was undertaken.
Understanding More
Brunei UN Millennium Goals Development Report