KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY THE ASSOCIATE MINISTER FOR THE SAMOA BUREAU OF STATISTICS AFIOGA TILAFONO DAVID HUNTER:
Launching of Samoa’s Monetary Poverty Assessment Report 2023 and Samoa’s Multidimensional Poverty Index Report 2023
Tanoa Hotel 6th February 2026
Lau Susuga i le Ta’ita’i o le Sauniga – Lau Afioga i le Tiakono Tolutasi Paiaaua
Honorable Ministers of Cabinet
Associate Ministers
Excellency’s and Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Heads of Government Ministries and Corporation’s
Members of Non-Government Organizations
Distinguished Quests, Ladies and Gentlemen
Talofa Lava and warm greetings.
It gives me great pleasure to present the keynote address for the launching of these very important reports;
1. The 2023 Samoa’s Monetary Poverty Assessment Report; and
2. The 2023 Multidimensional Poverty Index Report.
Statistical information as a public good has been, and will always be key to any successful development of policy and planning across all aspects of governance. Its significant role in providing evidence-based decision making, on all levels of development cannot be understated. Statistics has been one of the Samoan government priorities over many years, and will continue to do so in the future. The Government in partnership with development partners and international agencies invested a great deal in the development of statistics, and has been part of its reform program agenda for many years.
With the support of the Government and its partners, Samoa has made significant progress over the years, and performs comparatively well in terms of the production and dissemination of social, economic, monetary, environment and sector statistics. Today’s launch, marks another milestone of this thoughtful investment.
The Samoa 2023 Monetary Poverty Assessment together with the 2023 Multidimensional Poverty Index Reports, were developed and derived from the socio-economic certainties, informed by the data collected from the 2023 Household Income and Expenditure Survey. These critical and important insights into the socio-economic certainties of Samoa, will further enlightened the policy development, and ensure evidence-based decision making in the future.
Over the years, Samoa has been measuring poverty and hardship in monetary terms based on the results of the Household Income and Expenditure Survey. The bureau has taken a further step by measuring poverty and hardship in non-monetary terms using the same survey for the second time now.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
At the forefront, both reports were developed to align with certain Key Priority Areas (KPA) outlined in the Pathway for the Development of Samoa 2021/22 – 2025/26 namely;
1. KPA 1 Alleviating Hardship;
2. KPA 3 Quality Education;
3. KPA 7 Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture Productivity;
4. KPA 17 Enhanced Conservation and Sustainable use of Natural Resources;
5. KPA 19 Responsive Public Utility Services;
6. KPA 20 Innovative Information, Communication and Technology Use, and
7. KPA 21 Consolidated Infrastructure Management.
In addition to this, both reports are also aligned with Objective 1 of the Samoa Statistics Strategy 2022 – 2026 of Meeting the Needs of the Users by Producing Priority Statistics.
The Samoa’s 2023 Monetary Poverty Assessment Report is based on (i) the Food Poverty Line (FPL), which represents the minimum daily nutrition requirement of 2,100 kilocalorie per adult equivalent per day, and (2) the Basic Needs Poverty Line (BNPL) which is the summation of the Food Poverty Line and expenses on other essential non-food items including housing, education, health, utilities, transport and communication and gifts to the church and cultural functions and obligations.
The 2023 Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index Report on the other hand is based on the accessibility of individuals to non-monetary measures of poverty including access to Health Services (such as food security), Education and Employment (such as school attendance and school lag) and Living Standards (such as housing and internet connection).
A presentation later in the program will provide highlights into these measures.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Given Samoa’s international commitment to the SDG 2030 agenda, both reports have also identified and compiled certain SDG 2030 indicators for international reporting and monitoring namely;
(1) Indicator 1.1.1 – proportion of the population living below the international poverty line of USD2.15/ person/ day. (was 7.3% in 2008 and now 0.4% in 2023).
(2) Indicator 1.2.1 – proportion of population living below the national basic needs poverty line. (was 26.9% 2008 and 15.2% in 2023).
(3) Indicator 1.2.2 – proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions. (29.2% in 2018 and 15.2% in 2023).
(4) Indicator 2.1.1 – prevalence of undernourishment. (4.9% in 2008 and 5.4% in 2023).
(5) Indicator 2.1.2 – prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). (Moderate was 22.4% in 2008 and 20.3% in 2023 while severe was 2.4% in 2008 and 4.0% in 2023).
In addition, I strongly believe that the compilation of the above-mentioned SDG poverty indicators will greatly assist our SDG Task Force team in preparing for Samoa’s 4th VNR (Voluntarily National Review) earmarked for 2028.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Given poverty is a global issue which has indeed affected our country to a certain extent as evidently revealed by both reports, I strongly urge and encourage each and every one to take some time to read the findings in these reports. These will indeed assist Government, communities and our partners with the formulation of relevant policies and strategies to address vulnerable segments in the society to ensure that no one is left behind.
With those words, I would like to thank SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community) and OPHI (Oxford Poverty Human Development Initiative) for the technical assistance provided for both reports. I would also like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the World Bank through the Statistical Innovation and Capacity Building in the Pacific Islands (PACSTAT Project) which assisted this very important work. Words of appreciation also goes to the continuous support by the donor community, including Australia’s assistance through the Tautai program, which contributed to the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2023.
Lastly, I wish to acknowledge the staff of the Samoa Bureau of Statistics for their commitment and unwavering dedication in the compilation of both reports. Without a doubt, both reports are evidence to your collective efforts to ensure that no one is left behind in Samoa.
Fa’afetai,
Soifua ma ia manuia
🔗 Download 2023 Samoa Multidimensional Poverty Index – https://www.sbs.gov.ws/documents/social/mpi/Samoa-MPI-2023.pdf
🔗 Download Samoa Monetary Poverty Assessment 2023 – https://www.sbs.gov.ws/documents/social/mpi/Monetary-poverty-report2023.pdf
