Abstract

Extreme poverty is one of the worldwide challenges addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals, which are targeted for completion by 2030. In Indonesia, extreme poverty has risen over the last three years, rising from 3.7 per cent in 2019 to 4.0 per cent in 2021. The government has also begun to focus on reducing severe poverty by 2024 through various programs such as social assistance and human resource capacity building through education and training. This study aims to examine the impact of education and social assistance, as well as other socioeconomic demographic controls. This study reveals that education characteristics substantially impact alleviating severe poverty in Indonesia. In contrast, social assistance has a favourable impact on extreme poverty. This study suspects a selectivity bias because the need to participate in social assistance programs is for poor people. Finally, this study concludes that variables affecting extreme poverty are females living in rural areas, in the elderly age group, having low education, having a severe category of disability, living in a household with five or more household members, living in a household headed by women, have the main lighting for non-electric type houses, live in households with inadequate sanitation, live in households with inadequate sanitation, live in households that are unfit for habitation, do not have social security or health insurance.