Socioeconomic Development 871. • Chapter 6 The government pays these benefits to low-income earners and as assistance to unemployed people. Allowances to inmates and relief assistance to Mauritians, or on their behalf, who live in government-subsidised institutions (particularly old age homes, health-care units and orphanages), unless they benefit from basic pensions or social aid. 873. 874. There are two other programmes. First, there is the Trust Fund for the Social Integration of Vulnerable Groups (TFSIVG), established in 1999. Its main objectives include funding small community development programmes and microprojects, financial support for needy students and support in kind for constructing houses for the poor. The government launched the Empowerment Programme (EP) in 2006. The government designed it to provide training and loans to vulnerable sections of the population, including the unemployed (like workers in the women’s clothing industry after the termination of the MFAs), small businesspersons and candidates for social housing. The income support programme, introduced during the 2006/2007 fiscal year, targets the 25,000 families on the list of the Ministry of Social Security, National Solidarity and Senior Citizens Welfare and Reform Institutions. These are persons eligible for social aid. Social security employees are responsible for conducting a survey to determine whether a family is eligible for social aid, in which case it receives a monthly allowance of Rs340 (or USD12) for a family of four. Poverty 876. 304 Available indicators show that income distribution has deteriorated since 1995. The Gini Coefficient increased from 0.387 in 1996/1997 to 0.389 in 2006/2007. The share of the total income paid to the poorest 20 per cent of households declined from 5.9 per cent to 5.1 per cent, The World Bank defines the extreme poverty line as USD1.08 PPP per person per day. Less than 1 per cent of Mauritians live below this line. Relative poverty in Mauritius corresponds to half of the median income. Using this definition, there was no significant change in the situation between 1996/1997 and 2001/2002. The proportion of poor households was 7.7 per cent in 2001/2002 compared with 8.7 per cent in 1996/1997. The proportion of poor people was 7.8 per cent compared with 8.2 per cent in 1996/1997. The absolute number of households living below the relative poverty line remained virtually the same: 23,700 in 2001/2002 compared with 23,800 in 1996/1997. Implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 877. Mauritius’s progress in achieving the eight MDGs is generally encouraging. 878. Objective 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. The proportion of people living below the poverty line is less than 1 per cent. There are no statistics for the proportion of people suffering from hunger or for the indirect indicators of the percentage of underweight children and percentage of malnourished people. 879. Objective 2: Achieve universal primary education. The proportion of children enrolled at level 1 who reach level 5 has increased and is now close to 100 per cent. 880. Objective 3: Promote gender equality and empower women. The proportion of girls at the three levels of education is higher than that of boys. However, other indicators, like the proportion of women in paid employment in the nonagricultural sector, are still relatively low at between 35 and 37 per cent. With regard to the representation of men and women in the National Assembly, Mauritius has a long way to go to achieve the 30 per cent target, set by the relevant SADC Declaration, for women on political and decision-making bodies. 881. Objective 4: Reduce child mortality. The indicators are encouraging and keep improving. The child mortality rate dropped from 30 per cent, while that of infant-child mortality showed a remarkable Income distribution 875. Socioeconomic Development while that paid to the richest 20 per cent of households increased from 45.2 per cent to 45.7 per cent. The government pays contributory benefits only to persons, or on their behalf, who contributed to the NPF. The benefits include pensions for old and disabled persons, widows and orphans, in addition to the benefits paid out for industrial accidents. The allowances paid vary depending on the amount paid to the NPF by insured employees. The government guarantees a minimal contributory pension to persons who pay marginal contributions. Other development programmes 872. Chapter 6 305