Examining Socio-Demographic Corelates of Land and Livestock Ownership Access Poverty in Nigeria Using the Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire Survey Data

The aim of the study is to examine the socio-demographic variables that correlate with land and livestock ownership access poverty in Nigeria using the Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire (CWIQ) survey data, a non-monetary welfare indicator survey. A composed sample of 77,400 (seventy-seven thousand, four hundred) housing units drawn from the 36 States and Federal Capital Territory-FCT was used for the study. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Adapted-Foster Greer and Thorbecke, and binary logit model were used to analyze the data. The PCA was used to derive the land and livestock ownership access poverty line. The study revealed that land access poverty incidence is high across all the geo-political zones in Nigeria although the northern geo-political zones have land access poverty below the national incidence while the southern geo-political zones have land access poverty incidence above national incidence region. Household size, polygamous marriage and gender more significantly increase poverty across the various indicators used while attaining post secondary school, living in an urban area significantly reduced poverty across the composite indicators used. The study recommends that beyond the institutional reform advocated by some researchers, there is the immediate policy needs therefore to address some socio-demographic issues in Nigeria as they concern access to land. Such critical issues include rural-urban dichotomy as well as the gender imbalance in access to land and livestock ownership. Key words: Socio-Demographic Correlates, Land and Livestock Access Povert