What economic hardship means in Tonga

What is economic hardship like in Tonga?

There are many ways to describe economic hardship, from a statistical approach which reduces it to pure numbers, to a socio-philosophical point of view. In simple terms though, economic hardship is the lack of money needed to meet family needs for food, clothing, shelter, education and basic medical needs.

If I tell you that the average monthly income for a household in Tonga is about 1,657 TOP ($938 AUD), it might not express much. (From the Tongan Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2009.)

But let me bring you around the local market of Nuku’alofa, the capital of the Kingdom, and let’s see what we can buy with this.

A classic meal for a Tonga family consists of:

• 2 baskets of coconut – 10 TOP each
• 1 basket of manioc – 10 TOP each
• 3 bunches of taro leaves – 5 TOP
• 1 kg of Sipi (lamb) – 8 to 10 TOP
• 1 kg of tomatoes – 3 to 5 TOP
• 1 kg of onions – 3 TOP

Total cost of the meal: about 50 TOP, for a family of 5 (although a traditional family in Tonga can be quite extended and can count more than 8 members).

At the end of the day, just one meal will use almost 3% of the average monthly income for a household.

This doesn’t take into consideration the school fees (which are about 200 TOP per term, per child), electricity charges (about 100 TOP per month if the household can even afford or receive it), medical expenses, nor their church contributions. There are also unexpected expenses such as weddings or funerals to contend with.

Increasing and diversifying income are two ways that families can fight off economic hardship. Microfinance loans through Good Return do just that — they allow a family to find ways to support itself.

Celine is the Sustainable Energy Program Manager at Good Return.