Search and Filter

The Search tab in the Livelihoods Explorer (LEX) is the main interface for selecting and viewing Baseline data. This tab contains an interactive map and a sidebar that allows for searching and filtering. From this tab you can:

1. Search for Baselines, use a map overlay, or apply custom filters.

2. Click on a Livelihood Zone from the map to open a Quick view card for a Baseline. 

3. Click on a Livelihood Zone code from the Quick view card or from the search results to open the detailed Detail view card.

4. Click the plus button next to a Baseline name to add it to the Compare screen. 

How the Livelihoods Explorer calculates the values in the Search tab

Percentages

Within the Livelihoods Explorer, some percentages are calculated using 2100 kcals/person/day (% kcal pppd) as the denominator and some are calculated using total calories consumed as a percent of 2100 kcal pppd as the denominator. The difference is that 2100 kcals pppd is always 100% of the daily caloric need, whereas the actual total calories a household group may consume daily on average may be more or less than this.

These values have different purposes:

• Comparing a strategy or activity on the basis of the share of total calories consumed is a simple and immediately intuitive way to understand its relative importance across Wealth Groups or zones.

• Because the total number of kilocalories pppd consumed varies across Wealth Groups, using a common absolute for the denominator (2100 kcals pppd) rather than relative unit preserves differences in actual intake. It is useful for comparing contributions to needs relative to the same requirement.

When a percentage uses 2100 kcals pppd as the denominator, it will be explicit in the chart title, axis, and/or other label(s). These percentages are used in the Food and Food + Cash graphs in the Quick and Detail views.

Example: Food graph

This graph shows the breakdown of how each Wealth Group in this Livelihood Zone acquired their food in the Reference Year.

In this example, 49% of the kcals pppd for the Poor Wealth Group came from households growing their own crops. This is calculated as follows:

kcals pppd consumed from all crops grown by the household ÷ 2100 kcals pppd

Example: Food + Cash graph

This graph shows the breakdown of how each Wealth Group in this Livelihood Zone acquired their food and cash income in the Reference Year.

In this example, 41% of Food + Cash for the Poor Wealth Group comes from Livestock sales. This is calculated as follows:

The number of calories that can be purchased with the income from the sale of livestock ÷ 2100 kcals pppd

This equation uses total kcals that can be purchased from a specific amount of income which is calculated using the Baseline’s annual kcals cost.

Baseline annual kcal cost = (Cost of the "Other food survival" basket + Cost of providing the remainder of 2100 kcals for the Poor Wealth Group by purchasing the main staple) ÷ Average household size of the Poor Wealth Group

When using the “Percentage of food” overlays available in the Search tab, there are two percentages offered, the first for which the denominator is total calories actually consumed by households in a Wealth Group(s), and the second for which the denominator is 2100 kcal pppd.

Example: The differences in NG04

When looking at the Percentage of food consumption from own production for NG04 (2022), you can see that the percentages vary slightly when looking at the overlay versus looking at the Food graph in the Detail view.

The Food graph is looking at a percentage of 2100 kcals/person/day. This matches the second percentage in the overlay.

The first entry in the overlay is looking at a percentage of actual calories consumed. The first percentage in the overlay is calculated as:

kcals pppd consumed from all crops grown by the household ÷ Total kcals consumed pppd

which can be checked against the numbers from the Food graph:

(kcals pppd consumed from all crops grown by the household ÷ 2100 kcals pppd = 56%) ÷ (total kcals consumed pppd ÷ 2100 kcals pppd = 106%) = 53%

In some instances, when a Wealth Group is consuming exactly, or close to, 2100 kcals/person/day, the percentages on the Food graph and the “Percentage of food” overlays will be the same.

Example: Percentages are the same

In NG09 (2022) the percentage in the Percentage of food consumption from own crops overlay and the Food graph are the same for the Poor Wealth Group because they are consuming close to 2100 kcals/person/day, and percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.

All Wealth Groups

When choosing a strategy filter or one of the percentage overlays, a Wealth Group filter option becomes available. This filter is set to All Wealth Groups by default.

Data for All Wealth Groups is a weighted aggregation. Aggregations are weighted as follows:

• Percentage of population is used for percentage of 2100 kcal pppd metrics, as these represent per-capita or per-person contributions.

• Percentage of households is used for absolute totals (total kcals consumed, income, and expenditure), as these represent per-household or household-level aggregates.

Generally, the formula to calculate values for All Wealth Groups is:

[Sum of (Each Wealth Group's calories or income for the selected Livelihood Strategy × The weighting factor for the Wealth Group)] ÷ [Sum of (Each Wealth Group's total calories or income × The weighting factor for the Wealth Group)]

This formula omits Wealth Groups with no data for the selected Livelihood Strategy. The formula also omits Poor female-headed households as they are included in the Poor Wealth Group data.

Learn more about using the Wealth Group filter.

Learn more about how Wealth Groups are determined.

Thresholds and baskets

If unfamiliar with the concepts of Survival and Livelihood Protection Thresholds, learn more. This section explains the calculations used in the Survival and Livelihood Protection baskets graph.

The Survival and Livelihood Protection Thresholds are determined using categories of products called baskets. Each Product associated with a Livelihood Activity in a BSS is assigned to one of the following baskets for each Wealth Group:

• Main staple crop (e.g., Maize/corn grain or Sorghum grain, etc.)

• Other survival food purchases (e.g., Cooking Oil, Flour, Salt)

• Survival non-food purchases (e.g., Soap, Cooking Fuel, Lighting, Tea)

• Livelihood protection purchases (e.g., Seeds, Fertilizer, Animal Drugs)

The total allocation of a Livelihood Activity to each basket may not be 100%. For example, OtherPurchase of kerosene may be allocated as 75% in the survival non-food purchases basket. Because LEX only stores one category per product, the remaining 25% would implicitly be part of an “other” basket of discretionary spending, not associated with either the Survival or Livelihood Protection Thresholds.

For the survival expenditures, the Livelihoods Explorer applies the principle that all humans have the same minimum survival needs, including for water for human consumption. These minimum needs are determined based on those of the Poor wealth group (i.e., the Poor’s expenditure and allocation is assigned to all household groups for the Survival Threshold).

The allocation of livelihood protection purchases, however, can vary by Wealth Group. For example, cooking needs may require 75% of the total for Very poor and Poor households, but only 50% for Middle and Better off households.

The definition and calculation for each Threshold is described in the following chart.

Within the Livelihoods Explorer Database, the percentage of kcals allocated to a basket for a product category are calculated as follows:

1. Main staple - The remainder of the 100% kcals requirement after basket 2 (survival other food). Note that the amount of the main staple included in this basket is not derived from either Crop Production or Food Purchase of that crop. Instead, the Thresholds assume that households will purchase the amount of the main staple needed to reach 100% of their required kcals pppd after consuming the kcals from the survival other food basket.

2. Survival other food - percentage_kcals × percentage_allocation_to_basket. This includes all food purchases other than the main staple.

3. Non-food survival - expenditure × percentage_allocation_to_basket, converted to kcals using the annual_kcals_cost.

4. Livelihood protection - expenditure × percentage_allocation_to_basket, converted to kcals. If any activities in this basket are recorded as kcals instead of, or in addition to, cash (expenditure), the kcals portion of the activity is omitted from the livelihood protection basket. This is because all kcals assumed to be available for survival have already been included in baskets 1 and 2 such that the kcals should not be necessary for livelihood protection.

In these calculations, percentage_kcals represents the percentage of total kcals, not the percentage of 2100 kcals pppd.

Example

In NG21, and in all Baselines, the Survival Threshold is made up of the same three components for all Wealth Groups.

In looking at the survival non-food basket, you can see that 75% of the grain milling activity is allocated to the basket, accounting for 11% of the 18% that basket costs. You can check this math by looking at the expenditures. The Poor Wealth Group expend 51,800 NGN per year on grain milling.

expenditure × percentage_allocation_to_basket = 51,800 NGN × 75% = 38,850 NGN

To convert this to a percentage of 2100 kcals pppd, use the annual kcals cost (369,910 NGN) for the Poor Wealth Group, which can be found in the Compare view. 38,850 NGN ÷ 369,910 NGN = 10.5%, which is rounded up to 11%.

Null values

The Livelihoods Explorer uses 0 and N/A to represent different types of null values.

• Zero is used when there is data for that livelihood strategy for at least one Wealth Group in the BSS. It could represent either a recorded 0 or empty cell. Empty cells are represented as 0 in this case because the inclusion of the item in the BSS indicates that an amount would have been recorded if it that livelihood strategy was undertaken by households in the Wealth Group.

• N/A is used when no reconciled data was recorded for that livelihood strategy in the BSS. This might appear when comparing data across multiple BSS.