Poverty is multi-dimensional. It is characterized by lack of purchasing power, exposure to risk, malnutrition, high mortality rate, low life expectancy, insufficient access to social and economic services and few opportunities for income generation. This study was carried out in Irewole local government area of Osun state to determine the level of poverty in the study area. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, percentage, regression and Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) model. A total of 120 copies of questionnaire were administered for collection of information from respondent.The results from the analyzed data indicated that most of the respondents were middle-aged with mean age of approximately 38years, about 75.2% of the respondents are married, 86.0% of them had formal education. The mean income of the respondents was analyzed to be #57,590.91 and the mean per capita is ₦12,625.441, the poverty line was also analyzed to be #8,416.96, the poverty incidence of 36.36 percent shows the percentage of those that fell below the poverty line, the poverty depth of 7.2 percent shows that the income of the respondents needs to be raised by that percentage to move out of poverty, and the severity is 2.79 percent which implies that poverty exist but not so severe in the study area. The study recommends that more effort and resources should be devoted to poverty reduction programmes. However, there is need for the government to formulate and implement policies that will provide employment, housing, education, improved health care facilities and other things specifically for the urban poor.
Keywords: Irewole, Poverty Level, Unemployment, Urbanization
