living income
Nutritious food. Shelter. Clean water. A decent education. Access to health care. A safe and secure environment. All fundamental for a life free from hunger and poverty. Yet millions of people can’t afford them.
A living income means thriving, not just surviving
We define living income as the amount of money each person in a household needs per day to live a dignified life. When we start working with a community, together, we set a living income benchmark using existing data and data we gather from households in our project areas.
Living income benchmark
Heifer International determines local living income benchmarks during a project’s design stage, taking into account household needs such as a low-cost and nutritious diet, decent housing, other basic needs, and unexpected costs. With support from our in-country teams, project participants build sustainable businesses to close the gap between living incomes and their actual incomes. We convert living incomes benchmarks from local currency to United States Dollars for ease of international understanding.
