Sierra Leone
Go back Results are from an analysis of the 2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 6 (MICS6). Information on methodology is in the main text of the report and in the methods briefs.
Key indicators on the deprivations and wellbeing experienced by women with and without functional difficulties are presented in Table 1. Table 1 begins with information on the multidimensional poverty headcount—the rate of women deprived in more than one dimension in the areas of education, health, and standard of living. Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty have a multidimensional poverty headcount of 90% compared to 83% for women with some functional difficulty and 83% for women with no difficulty.
Table 1_Sierra Leone: Key indicators for women age 18 to 49 by functional difficulty status (% and percentage points)
| Indicator | No Difficulty |
Some Difficulty |
Difference between no difficulty and some difficulty |
At least a lot of difficulty |
Difference between no difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multidimensional poverty headcount | 83 | 83 | 0 | 90 | -7*** |
| Less than primary school | 57 | 60 | -3* | 74 | -17*** |
| Owns a mobile phone | 49 | 48 | 1 | 35 | 14*** |
| Safely managed drinking water | 63 | 62 | 2 | 60 | 3 |
| Safely managed sanitation | 17 | 18 | -1 | 14 | 3 |
| Clean fuel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Electricity | 24 | 28 | -5*** | 17 | 7** |
| Adequate housing | 48 | 49 | -1 | 40 | 8** |
| Owns assets | 21 | 23 | -2*** | 20 | 2 |
| Having felt discriminated against or harassed | – | – | – | – | – |
| Happiness: very or somewhat happy | 74 | 71 | 4*** | 56 | 18*** |
Notes: *, **, and *** indicate that the difference is statistically significant at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively. ‘-‘ indicates not available. Numbers in the difference columns are in percentage points while all other numbers in the table are percentages.
Source: Sierra Leone 2017 MICS6, own calculations
Education
The share of women ages 18 to 49 who have less than primary school as their highest level of schooling attained is significantly higher among women with at least a lot of functional difficulty (74%) and women with some difficulty (60%) compared to women with no difficulty (57%). This boils down to gaps of 17 percentage points (p.p.) between women with at least a lot of difficulty and no difficulty and three p.p. between women with some functional difficulty and no difficulty.
Personal Activities
Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are less likely to own a mobile phone than women with no difficulty, at 35% and 49%, respectively. At 48%, women with some difficulty are also less likely to own a mobile phone than women with no difficulty, although this difference is not statistically significant.
Health
Differences across functional difficulty status are small (three p.p. or lower) for safely managed water and sanitation.
Standard of Living
Rates of access to clean fuel are overall similar for the different functional difficulty groups. There are significant differences in terms of the shares of individuals with electricity, adequate housing, and asset ownership, with higher rates for women with some difficulty but lower rates for women with at least a lot of difficulty compared to women with no difficulty. For all three indicators, these differences range from one to eight p.p.
Subjective Wellbeing
Women with at least a lot of functional difficulty are significantly less likely to report feeling very or somewhat happy than women with no difficulty, at 56% and 74%, respectively. At 71%, women with some difficulty also have lower rates of happiness compared to women with no difficulty.
More results for Sierra Leone are available in Results Tables on the DDI website.