Brunei Darussalam has a laudable ambition of Zero Poverty by 2035, set in 2008,  long before the United Nations even thought of eliminating global poverty through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. During my PhD fieldwork, I was often asked, in reference to Brunei’s Zero Poverty aspiration, whether a country could ever eliminate poverty within our lifetime. I strongly believe, as I have blogged here,  in the possibility of ending poverty in our era,  and for Brunei,  zero poverty is achievable. However, success in eradicating poverty, as we argued in a scholarly article here,  depends on having a clear and in-depth understanding of the nature and level of poverty in a society. There is increasing scholarly attention on the nature of poverty in Brunei. In my maiden blog post, I shared thoughts on what poverty in Brunei means, and you can find scholarly articles about poverty in Brunei by us and other researchers here, here, here,  here and here, for example. You can also read intriguing and insightful thoughts on poverty in Brunei shared in a LinkedIn post here. It was difficult, however, to ascertain the level of poverty in the country until the publication, in August 2023, of the pioneering study on measuring poverty in Brunei conducted by CARe Researchers at Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Today’s blog post, therefore, is inspired by the findings of this pioneering study. I share lessons gleaned from the study and my thoughts on what more needs to be done in measuring poverty in Brunei. Before I do so, however, I wish to commend the CARe Researchers for shedding light on the level of poverty in Brunei. This is a truly commendable accomplishment!

Lessons gleaned from the pioneering study on measuring poverty in Brunei   

As is the case with other wealthy countries, poverty exists in Brunei, although not to the extent that it does in low-income countries.

Before the COVID pandemic, poverty in Brunei was in decline. Based on the international poverty line, USD 5.5 a day per person, for high-income countries, the poverty rate in the country fell from 18.3% in 2005 to 5.4% in 2015. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of poverty statistics relating to the post-pandemic period. We therefore do not know the extent or trajectory of poverty in Brunei after the pandemic, which caused a spike in the number of welfare assistance applicants, as reported in the CARe study and also here.

Although Brunei still has individuals living in extreme poverty, the percentage is relatively small. In 2015, 1% of the total population was living below USD 1.90 a day per person, which was the international poverty line for extreme poverty at that time.

Brunei achieved the Millennium Development Goal 1 of reducing poverty by half, well ahead of the 2015 deadline. The country significantly reduced extreme poverty from 4.7 % in 2005 to 1.6% in 2010. The country is certainly making significant strides towards poverty eradication, and I blogged about the reasons for this feat here.

My thoughts on what more needs to be done on measuring poverty in Brunei

There is a need to assess the poverty level within the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed millions of people into poverty globally, as the World Bank reports here and here. This call is made not only to Brunei, but to all countries worldwide. The estimate of 1.1 billion multidimensional poor people worldwide reported in the 2023 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report is based, by and large, on data collected before the pandemic since post-pandemic poverty data is not available for many countries.

It is also important to measure poverty in Brunei from a multidimensional perspective. Poverty is multidimensional. To borrow words from the poverty article by Noor Hasharina Hassan et al. (2022) found here, poverty is “singular neither in its experience nor in its causalities”. Poverty in Brunei is multidimensional, too ( see our articles here and here). One could therefore agree with CARe researchers that poverty could not be accurately measured by a single indicator – income. To ensure a comprehensive understanding of the poverty level in Brunei, then, a multidimensional poverty measure should also be considered.  Having said this, however, it should be pointed out, as I argued in a scholarly article here, that there is no perfect poverty measure, but what is required is a measure that “sufficiently acknowledges that poverty is, by nature, multidimensional, complex, experiential and individual- or context-specific.”

Poverty measurement in Brunei requires a Capability-based approach in addition to the income and basic needs approaches. One might ask how someone can be considered poor when they earn a reasonable income, live in a well-built house, and drive a beautiful car? We are frequently confronted by this question in our poverty studies in Brunei. It is this concern that fuels the common belief that poverty in Brunei is unique, and that prompted us to study what really happens in the lives of households considered to be poor. Indeed, as we also reported in this article, some of the people considered poor in Brunei earn a reasonable income and own beautiful houses and cars. Such individuals are, therefore, likely to fall under the radar if poverty within the country is measured based exclusively on income and basic needs indicators. For this reason, the Capability-based poverty measure is needed as a complementary poverty measure in Brunei because it focuses not on income (means of living) but on actual conditions or states of life (the beings and doings). This makes it possible to understand the poverty conditions of those with a reasonable income, beautiful houses and cars.  You can learn more about the Capability Approach in the context of Brunei from our article found here.

So these are my takeaways from the CARe study and my thoughts on measuring poverty in Brunei. Once again, many thanks to CARe researchers for this pioneering study!