percent Other household amenities

106 CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES Table 11.1: Households, by debt status, debt amount in percentages; also stating debt means in Afs. Debt status, debt amount; Debt means Residence National Urban Rural Kuchi Without debt 46.2 45.1 40.8 45.1 With debt 53.8 54.9 59.2 54.9 Below 25,000 11.4 19.5 24.4 17.9 25,000 - 49,999 7.4 12.7 13.1 11.5 50,000 - 74,999 8.9 9.8 7.3 9.4 75,000 - 124,999 9.1 6.4 6.6 7.0 125,000 - 299,999 9.9 4.5 5.2 5.8 300,000 and over 7.1 2.0 2.6 3.2 Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Debt means of indebted households a Mean debt 124,359 63,444 64,619 76,800 Median debt 70,000 35,000 30,000 40,000 a Applying a 1 percent trimmed mean Compared to the previous NRVA, the debt situation of households seems to have changed. Although in 2007-08 even more of the households reported being indebted 67 percent, the mean and median debt was signiicantly lower – 45 and 20 thousand, respectively data not shown. The survey respondents also reported about their assessment of any change in the economic situation of the household compared to one year before. 1 A large proportion of 43 percent experienced no change Figure 11.1. Of the 57 percent households for which the economic situation did change, more experienced a deterioration 33 percent than an improvement 24 percent. Whereas the net balance for urban households was about neutral, rural and especially Kuchi households fared worse: respectively 11 and 26 percent more households reported a deterioration than an improvement. Figure 11.1: Households, by assessment a of their economic situation compared to one year before, and by residence 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Much better Slightly better Sa me Slightly worse Much worse 4 22 47 23 4 4 20 41 27 8 1 13 47 29 11 4 20 43 26 7 Urba n Rura l Kuchi Na tiona l a The assessment is based on the average of male and female reports 1 The presented igures of the economic assessment are based on the average of male and female reports. Gender-speciic reports were very similar. 107 CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES 11.3 Household shocks and coping strategies 11.3.1 Household shocks Like on previous occasions, the present NRVA investigated into the shocks experienced by households in the 12 months preceding the interview. Shocks are considered those events that have negative outcomes and that are outside the direct control of households. These outcomes can be temporary and relatively mild, but they can also shake the very existence of the household and its members, for which no coping strategy can provide an adequate answer. A basic distinction is made between generic shocks and idiosyncratic shocks. The irst relate to general occurrences that can possibly affect an entire community, like loods, livestock diseases, droughts or general insecurity, whereas the second refer to events affecting speciic households or persons, such as the death of a household member, loss of employment or a burnt-down home. The box on household shocks below provides the classiication of speciic shocks into larger categories. 2 A large majority of 84 percent of households reported the experience of any shock during the year before the survey, which is much more than in 2007-08 65 percent and 2005 45 percent Table 11.2. The overview of shocks experienced in different years shows large luctuations, which partly describes the changing situation on the ground and probably partly also a changing perspective or reporting tendency. It can be observed that urban households are less exposed to most shocks than rural and especially Kuchi households. Household shocks Insecurity: insecurity, violence and theft. Food and farm gate price: unusually high increases in food prices, unusual decrease in farm gate prices. Epidemics: unusually high level of human disease. Idios yncratic: bankruptcy of family business, serious illness or accident for working household member, death of a working household member, death or illness of other household member, involuntary loss of house or land, involuntary loss of livestock, loss of employment by a household member, reduced salary of a household member. Drinking water: reduced drinking water quantity and quality. Agri cultural: reduced agricultural water quality and quantity, unusually high level of crop pests and diseases, opium eradication, abandoning opium cultivation, unusually high level of livestock diseases, reduced availability of grazing areas, and reduced availability of Kuchi migration routes. Natu ral disasters: earthquakes, landslides and avalanches, looding, late damaging frosts, heavy rains preventing work, severe winter conditions and hailstorms. 2 For reasons of comparability the category of ‘inlux of returnee households’ is left aside. In 2011-12, 2.8 percent of households reported this as an event that had negative consequences to them.