Undertaking a binomial and polychotomous logit regression, we investigate micro-and-meso
determinants of probable moderate and persistent poverty status in Cameroon. Using the
ECAM II Cameroon Consumption Household Survey, we identify education, age of household
head, fraction of active adult household members, access to infrastructure, among others, as
outcomes likely to reduce the poverty status of households. Regionally, residing in the Rural
Haut Plateau, Savanna and Rural Forest regions all enhance the likelihood of being poor,
revealing the worrisome situation of poverty in rural areas. Overall, factors associated with
poverty status using the ordered logit model appear more important when targeting moderate
rather than extreme poverty, translating government’s failure to appropriately deal with the
severity of poverty in its strategies and a likely cause for the slow development observed in
Cameroon. Policy wise, public intervention that encourage growth in educational levels of
household heads (education), employment, rationalization of household sizes and bridging
spatially disparities of poverty among regions, should be rendered operational in effectively
attempting to resolve issues pertaining to extreme poverty, in view of curbing the rise in
clustering between the two extreme quintiles in welfare distribution, which can be a potential
source of underdevelopment.