The challenge
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, it was unclear how lockdowns were likely to impact people’s wellbeing and there was a need to quantify the potential consequences in terms of increases in poverty.
The research
This project involved assessing how much the COVID-19 pandemic was likely to reduce people’s living standards. Specifically, we estimated the potential short-term country-level impacts of COVID-19 on poverty around the Pacific region.
The impact
The results suggested that the number of people living in extreme poverty in the Pacific could increase by over 40% in the short term. This helped contribute to Australia establishing the Partnership for Social Protection to strengthen social protection systems in the region.
Our researcher
Christopher Hoy - Melbourne Institute