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. 2021 Nov 22;16(11):e0260378. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0260378

Table 2. Odds ratios (95% confidence interval) from multilevel models predicting being among poorest 20% in country and reporting difficulty living on income.

Being among poorest 20% Difficulty living on income
Model 2A Model 2B Model 3A Model 3B
Low numeracy
Incorrect or no answer (vs correct answer) 1.70*** - 1.19*** -
(1.33, 2.16) (1.07, 1.32)
p<0.001 p<0.001
10% is bigger than 1 in 10 (vs. correct answer) - 1.45*** - 1.03
(1.20, 1.76) (0.91, 1.29)
p<0.001 p = 0.69
10% is smaller than 1 in 10 (vs correct answer) - 1.43*** - 1.09
(1.25, 1.63) (0.91, 1.29)
p<0.001 p = 0.36
No answer (vs. correct answer) - 1.83*** - 1.26***
(1.39, 2.41) (1.11, 1.42)
p<0.001 p<0.001
Demographic and control variables
Poorest 20% (vs. richest 20%) - - 6.59*** 6.53***
(4.85, 8.95) (4.79, 8.89)
p<0.001 p<0.001
Second income quintile (vs. richest 20%) - - 4.37*** 4.35***
(3.72, 5.13) (3.71, 5.09)
p<0.001 p<0.001
Third income quintile (vs. richest 20%) - - 2.73*** 2.72***
(2.22, 3.37) (2.22, 3.33)
p<0.001 p<0.001
Fourth income quintile (vs. richest 20%) - - 1.85*** 1.84***
(1.60, 2.14) (1.60, 2.11)
p<0.001 p<0.001
Up to elementary school (vs. college) 5.54*** 5.41*** 2.32*** 2.28***
(4.35, 7.06) (4.29, 6.83) (1.98, 2.71) (1.97, 2.64)
p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001
High school (vs. college) 2.21*** 2.19*** 1.54*** 1.53***
(1.77, 2.76) (1.76, 2.72) (1.39, 1.71) (1.39, 1.69)
p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001
Female (vs. male) 1.17* 1.16 0.96 0.95
(1.01, 1.36) (.99, 1.35) (0.90, 1.02) (0.89, 1.01)
p = 0.04 p = 0.06 p = 0.17 p = 0.13
Age (divided by 10) 0.96 0.96 1.04 1.04
(0.87, 1.06) (0.87, 1.05) (0.99, 1.10) (0.99, 1.10)
p = 0.40 p = 0.35 p = 0.13 p = 0.16
World Bank country income categories
Low-income (vs. high-income) 0.38*** 0.38*** 7.08*** 7.11***
(0.33, 0.45) (0.33, 0.45) (4.83, 10.38) (4.85, 10.42)
p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001
Lower middle income (vs. high-income) 0.52*** 0.52*** 3.97*** 3.96***
(0.45, 0.60) (0.44, 0.60) (2.78, 5.68) (2.77, 5.68)
p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001
Upper middle income (vs. high-income) 0.64*** 0.64*** 2.66*** 2.65***
(0.57, 0.72) (0.57, 0.72) (1.96, 3.60) (1.96, 3.60)
p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001 p<0.001
N 150,634 150,634 147,544 147,544
Fixed effects ANOVA F(8, F(10, F(12, F(14,
150625) = 63.05*** 150623) = 65.28*** 147531) = 162.38*** 147529) = 167.43***
AIC 5,273,073,545 5,269,643,121 5,109,159,082 5,107,120,796
BIC 5,273,073,555 5,269,643,131 5,109,159,092 5,107,120,806

P-values significant at ***p<0.001, **p<0.001, and *p<0.05. Models represents multilevel logistic regression. Model fit was better for Model 2B than for Model 2A and for Model 3B than for Model 3A, seen in lower values of AIC = Akaike Information Criterion, corrected and BIC = Bayesian Information Criterion. According to the World Bank classification, low-income countries have a per capita gross national income of less than $1,026, lower middle income countries of $1,026-$3,995, upper middle income countries of $3,996-$12,375, and high-income countries of more than $12,375 [23]. Gallup computed income quintiles for each country, or five similarly sized income categories, include the 20% poorest people in their country, the 20% richest people in their country, and three income categories in between.