• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.205-230
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• 2008

This study analyzed the regional effects on the poverty status of households and the poverty difference between Metropolitan and Non-metropolitan area in Korea. The Korea Welfare Panel Study was used for the study, and the results are as follows. First, the poverty rate of Non-metropolitan area is higher than Metropolitan area, and the poverty rate of small-sized regions is the highest area among Non-metropolitan areas. It shows that the poverty of regions is deeply related with the development of region. Second, the people living in Non-metropolitan area have experienced more hardships than the people of Metropolitan area, even though they have similar socio-demographic characteristics. It implies that living in the Non-metropolitan area is to have much more risk of poverty. Third, the regional effects on the poverty are found, that is, living in Non-metropolitan areas is positively associated with the poverty probability. Lastly, regional effect, that is the differences of the poverty probability between Metro and Non-metropolitan areas, is estimated as $49.2{\sim}73.7%$ of total poverty differences. Results of this study suggest that regional poverty policies are necessary to solve the regional differences of poverty in Korea.