The Impact of Internal Displacement on Poverty

This chapter provides a critical review of the economics research that uses survey data to measure the impact of internal displacement on poverty. ‘Poverty’ is here understood as a broad concept that captures various aspects of household deprivation relating to internally displaced persons, their hosts, and the country they live in. The multidimensional nature of poverty and the fact that internal displacement has spill-over effects that go well beyond the place of origin and destination of internally displaced persons are considered. Clearly, the impact of internal displacement cannot be reduced to poverty, even when the multidimensional aspects of poverty are considered. Other outcomes of internal displacement that are closely related to poverty include health, education, housing, land, and property issues. The chapter shows that this literature remains scarce overall. However, for some geographical areas and specific outcomes, and in contrast to the research on external displacement, internal displacement results in predominantly negative effects on the well-being of internally displaced persons and their hosts.