**Table 3 compares the vulnerable to the poor population.** The table shows that the poor and vulnerable are similar among several dimensions. Still, there are some systematic differences. First, a lower share of the vulnerable than poor live in urban areas (36.6 percent versus 42.5 percent). Surprisingly, a higher share of the poor are employed (33.1 percent versus 29.1 percent). Also, nearly the full universe of the vulnerable population are informally employed compared to 9 out of 10 poor people. The vulnerable have, on average, more children, more household members, and a higher exposure to criminal activity. When designing targeting mechanisms, these differences should be taken into consideration.

_Table 3: Descriptive Statistics – Vulnerable versus poor (2019)_

|**Variable**|**Vulnerab**|**lepopula**|**tion**<br>**Sdd**|**Poor**|**populati**|**on**<br>**Sdd**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**Observations**|**Mean**|**tanar**<br>**Deviation**|**Observations**|**Mean**|**tanar**<br>**Deviation**|
|Urban|22196|0.366|0.482|18321|0.425|0.494|
|Male|22196|0.469|0.499|18321|0.464|0.499|
|Single|22196|0.373|0.484|18321|0.342|0.474|
|Age|22196|27.905|19.247|18321|27.389|21.166|
|Ownership|22196|0.656|0.475|18321|0.664|0.473|
|Highestgrade obtained|11110|6.653|3.382|8600|6.453|3.39|
|Employed|22196|0.291|0.454|16288|0.331|0.471|
|Self-Employed|6858|0.377|0.485|5947|0.341|0.474|
|Public sector|6858|0.004|0.063|5947|0.008|0.091|
|Informal|3046|0.963|0.189|2447|0.895|0.307|
|No. of Children|22196|2.006|1.203|18321|1.816|1.298|
|Number of children<br>attendingschool|22196|1.298|1.048|18321|1.131|1.051|
|Number of members in<br>main household|22196|5.409|2.006|18321|5.038|1.957|
|Number of household<br>members out of labor<br>force|22196|2.203|1.307|18321|1.977|1.305|
|Crime Index|21363|0.064|0.326|17557|0.052|0.246|
|SecurityIndex|21349|3.683|1.787|17535|3.648|1.755|
|Environmental Index|22196|0.018|0.161|18321|0.02|0.16|
|Financial literacy|22196|0.172|0.377|18321|0.18|0.384|

_Source: World Bank estimates based on EHPM (2019)_

# 5.2. Vulnerability to Poverty: Recent Trends

**This subsection presents estimates of ex-ante vulnerability to poverty over time in the more recent period 2016-2019** . These estimates rely on the household surveys available at the time of this publication. Even though the 2020 data was publicly available, the collection of the 2020 data was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially affecting the comparability of the income aggregates over time. The statistical office (DIGESTYC) continuously collects the household survey from January to December. Still, in 2020 data was not collected from March to July (the period of strict confinement in which labor incomes probably fell the most); therefore, the entire sample was not covered.

**Our estimates show that the vulnerability rate nearly halved during the period 2016-2019 in El Salvador from a total vulnerability rate of 0.39 in 2016 to 0.24 in 2019, with decreases in both rural and urban areas** . The decrease in vulnerability is 23.8 percentage points in rural areas and 11.1 percentage points in urban areas (see Figure 6). The decline in vulnerability to poverty is mainly related to a parallel decrease in poverty (falling from 31.4 percent in 2016 to 22.3 percent in 2019, when measured in 2011PPPs). Therefore, the share of households close to the poverty line is lower, and a lower share of households switched their poverty status, which then also lowers the rate of households being vulnerable.

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