The prevalence of poverty is at an all-time low, the PIOJ points out in its latest Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions, dropping by 4.4 percentage points to just under 10 per cent in 2007. The year before, poverty had declined only a mere 0.5 percentage points over the previous year.

Overall, there has been a 10 percentage point reduction in poverty since 1997, the survey says.

PIOJ measures poverty based on consumption patterns.

Incidentally, data also shows that real mean per capita consumption also increased by more thanone tenth, while consumption inequality contracted. Consump-tion among female-headed house-holds trended up.

Tourism activity

The country's hosting of the Cricket World Cup impacted the tourism and transportation sector, the PIOJ says in its 2007 Economic and Social Survey, as accommodation rose in hotels, especially in Kingston and on the north coast.

Increased activities in the tourism sector, the institute states, may have played a part in the reduced levels of poverty in towns outside of the Kingston Metropolitan Area.

These towns measured the lowest level of poverty.

PIOJ also estimates that relatively low inflation most of last year (7.1 per cent) and activities resulting from general election campaigning activi-ties also influenced poverty levels.

However, while the PIOJ boasts reduced poverty overall, the rural poor swelled by 5.6 per cent. In total, they represent nearly three quarters of the total poor.

Female-headed households con-tinued to be worse off than those headed by men, though consumption by these families generally improved last year.

More than one tenth of such families were classified as poor.