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RWI [message #27694]

Wed, 20 September 2023 18:47

kismat khatri
Messages: 2
Registered: September 2023

Member

Hello,

I am currently working on a capstone project for my final year in collaboration with the World Bank. The project involves Poverty Estimation in Pakistan, specifically focusing on the RWI score. However, I am encountering difficulties in understanding how the RWI score is generated from the DHS survey data and which variables are used in calculating the RWI score in the surveys conducted by the DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys) for Pakistan.

I would greatly appreciate any information or guidance you can provide on this matter.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely
Kismat khatri

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Re: RWI [message #27703 is a reply to message #27694]

Fri, 22 September 2023 16:50

Janet-DHS
Messages: 937
Registered: April 2022

Senior Member

Following is a response from DHS staff member, Tom Pullum:

DHS includes the wealth index in all surveys. It is a household-level variable, constructed as a continuous scale and as quintiles with the same methodology in all surveys, from the first principal component of a principal components analysis using mainly variables that have the prefix "hv2" in the HR file. You can read about it on the website (https://www.dhsprogram.com/topics/wealth-index/index.cfm), which gives links to several DHS methodological reports. One of these reports describes a comparative wealth index (CWI) but I am not familiar with the acronym "RWI". Let us know if you have specific questions, but the website includes descriptions of the procedure as applied to every survey, including the Pakistan surveys, and should be sufficient for your purposes. There have also been many related postings on the forum.

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Re: RWI [message #27704 is a reply to message #27703]

Fri, 22 September 2023 17:25

kismat khatri
Messages: 2
Registered: September 2023

Member

Rwi is relative wealth index. How DHS calculate wealth index? How many variables they have used to calculate wealth index? What are those variables? Is there any specific paper that they calculate wealth index in Pakistan?

Thank you for your response.

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Re: RWI [message #29731 is a reply to message #27694]

Mon, 29 July 2024 03:43

Anonymous

The RWI (Relative Wealth Index) score is a composite measure used to assess and compare the wealth status of households within surveys like the DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys). The RWI is derived from the DHS survey data using a set of household characteristics and assets that are believed to reflect the wealth status of a household.

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Re: RWI [message #31382 is a reply to message #27694]

Mon, 08 September 2025 03:24

dadfaeroes
Messages: 1
Registered: September 2025

Member

That sounds like a really interesting capstone project, and an important one too. The Relative Wealth Index (RWI) that the World Bank and partners often use is typically derived from asset-based measures in the DHS (Demographic and Health Surveys) and MICS datasets.

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