Determinants of household income levels among residents of Buliisa town council western ward (Kitahura cell) Buliisa district, western Uganda.

Abstract

This study examined the determinants of household income levels among the residents of Buliisa TC, western ward (Kitahura cell), Buliisa district, western Uganda. The study was motivated persistent low and unstable household income levels experienced by many households despite the ongoing development initiatives. A cross section research design employing a quantitative approach was adopted. Primary data were collected from 200 household heads using a structured questionnaire selected through multi stage simple random sampling. Data were entered through Microsoft excel, cleaned and analyzed using STATA. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize respondents’ characteristics, while chi-square tests and binary logistic regression were employed to examine the association between dependent variable and independent variables. The findings revealed that the majority (81%) of the households had low monthly household income. Most respondents had attained primary education; most of them were males (54.5%) and the main occupation of the respondents was farming. At the bivariate level, age was significantly associated with household income, whereas sex, marital status, education level, occupation, and household size were not significantly associated. Logistic regression analysis further indicated that age remained the most important predictor of household income, with respondents in the economically active age groups being more likely to belong to higher-income households than older respondents. Other socio-demographic characteristics did not show statistically significant effects after controlling for potential confounding factors. The study concludes that age is the key determinant of household income levels among households in Buliisa TC. It recommends strengthening livelihood diversification, improving access to affordable credit, supporting productive economic activities among others to enhance household incomes and reduce poverty.