per capita equivalence scales when measuring national poverty rates, though its international poverty rate is calculated using a simple per capita consumption aggregate metric.

**Table 4.** **<u>Summary of sampling designs in household-level surveys used to measure poverty</u>**

||**Afghanistan**|**Bangladesh**|**Bhutan**|**India**|**Maldives**|**Nepal**|**Pakistan**|**Sri Lanka**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Nationally<br>Representative?|Yes<sup>(1)</sup>|Yes<sup>(2)</sup>|Yes<sup>(3)</sup>|No<sup>(4)</sup>|Yes<sup>(5)</sup>|Yes<sup>(6)</sup>|Yes<sup>(7)</sup>|Yes<sup>(8)</sup>|
||Pre-census|Population|Populatio|Rural:|Populatio|National|Urban:|Census of|
|Samlin Fram|household<br>listing,<br>conducted|and<br>Housing<br>Census|n<br>and<br>Housing<br>Census|Indian<br>Census<br>Villages|n<br>and<br>Housing<br>Census|Populatio<br>n Census<br>(2000)|FBS’s<br>urban<br>frame|Populatio<br>n<br>and<br>Housing|
|pg e|between<br>2003 and|(2001)|(2005)|(2001);<br>Urban:|(2006)||(2003).<br>Rural:|(2011)|
||2005.|||Urban|||Populatio||
|||||Frame|||n Census||
|||||Survey|||(1998)||
|Response Rate|89.1|Not<br>available|Urban: 92<br>Rural:97<br>(3)|Not<br>availabl<br>e|90<sup>(5)</sup>|97<sup>(6)</sup>|Not<br>available|81<sup>(8)</sup>|
|Rural<br>Household<br>Pct.|86.46|59.0|48.5|59.0|64.3<sup>(9)</sup>|79.1|60.5|77.4<sup>(10)</sup>|
|Sample Size|20,828|12,240|8,968|101,662|1,832|7,180|16,341|20,540|
|Sampling Ratio<br>Individual Sample|0.64|0.04|7.01|0.04|3.71|0.12|0.08|0.40|
|Size|159,224|55,580|39,825|464,960|11,588|34,815|108,933|80,534|
|Reference Period||2/2010<br>–|2012<sup>(3)</sup>|7/2011-|9/2009–|2010<sup>(6)</sup>|7/2010-|7/2012<br>–|
|(Survey)|4/2011-<br>8/2012<sup>(1)</sup>|1/2011<sup>(2)</sup>||6/2012<sup>(4)</sup>|9/2010<sup>(5)</sup>||6/2011<sup>(7)</sup>|6/2013<sup>(8)</sup>|

Source: Authors’ own estimates based on South Asia Harmonized Micro Dataset (SARMD).

<mark>(1)National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment 2011 - 2012, Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey Report. Helmand and Khost provinces were excluded from consumption information</mark> (2) Statistical Division of the Ministry of Planning (2011) Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditures Survey: Key Findings and Report. (3) Asian Development Bank (2013) Bhutan Living Standard Survey 2012 report.

Design and Estimation Procedure of NSS 68th Round) Expenditures Survey 2009/10. Findings (6) Central Bureau of Statistics (2011) Nepal Living Standard Survey – highlights (7) Statistic Division of the Government of Pakistan - PSLM report (8) Sri Lanka Department of Census and Statistics (2015) Household Income and Expenditures Survey (9) Atolls are considered rural areas.

(10) There is a further 5% in the Estate sector, which consists of tea plantations.

_Food consumption questionnaire and data collection methods_ The questionnaire design methodologies for recording the data vary considerably across countries in the region. A comprehensive study analyzing survey questionnaires from 100 low and middleincome countries noted the large variation in the way surveys are designed in each country (Smith, Dupriez and Troubat, 2014). This variation is also apparent across the South Asian household survey questionnaires. Table 5 lists the contents of the questionnaires from South Asian countries, which shows significant differences in the way food consumption data are collected.

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