Original Research

Livelihood vulnerability index analysis: An approach to study vulnerability in the context of Bihar

Madhuri Madhuri, Hare R. Tewari, Pradip K. Bhowmick
Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies | Vol 6, No 1 | a127 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/jamba.v6i1.127 | © 2014 Madhuri ., Hare R. Tewari, Pradip K. Bhowmick | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 23 February 2014 | Published: 02 December 2014

About the author(s)

Madhuri Madhuri, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India
Hare R. Tewari, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India
Pradip K. Bhowmick, Rural Development Centre, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India

Abstract

Vulnerability is the capacity to anticipate, cope with, resist and recover from the impact of natural disasters. Floods add to the distressed conditions of the poor and vulnerable people in Bihar. Floods have a different impact on households depending on differences in their livelihood choices. Therefore, in order to identify the variability in vulnerability of affected households, the livelihood vulnerability index (LVI) of Hahn, Riederer and Foster was modified according to the context of the study area. The LVI aims to identify sources and forms of vulnerability that are specific to the context in order to design context-specific resilience measures. However, vulnerability and resilience are not interdependent but discrete entities. The study was conducted in the seven blocks of Bhagalpur district in the state of Bihar. Naugachia was found to be the least vulnerable because of better access to basic amenities and livelihood strategies, whilst Kharik was found to be highly vulnerable in respect to other blocks because of high sensitivity and less adaptive strategy. The study also revealed that better access to resources does not necessarily mean that households are adopting resilience measures because of apathetic or indifferent attitudes.

Keywords

Vulnerability, Livelihood, Sensitivity, Adaptive capacity, Exposure

Metrics

Total abstract views: 13168
Total article views: 27282

 

Crossref Citations

1. Livelihood vulnerability and diversification among cotton growers in Ahmednagar, semi-arid region of Maharashtra, India
Dipali Sarangdhar Mhaske, Rahul Haribhau Wadghane
SN Social Sciences  vol: 4  issue: 7  year: 2024  
doi: 10.1007/s43545-024-00918-5

2. Household external vulnerability due to climate change in Selangor coast of Malaysia
Sofia Ehsan, Rawshan Ara Begum, Khairul Nizam Abdul Maulud
Climate Risk Management  vol: 35  first page: 100408  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1016/j.crm.2022.100408

3. Assessing the livelihood vulnerability of rural Guyanese communities due to accelerating environmental change
William M. Hayes, Zoe G. Davies, Marcelle Chan-A-Sue, Jake E. Bicknell, Janine E. Robinson
Regional Environmental Change  vol: 25  issue: 4  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1007/s10113-025-02460-3

4. Are Multidimensional Poor more Vulnerable to Climate change? Evidence from Rural Bihar, India
Manjisha Sinha, R. Sendhil, B. S. Chandel, Ravinder Malhotra, Ajmer Singh, Sujeet Kumar Jha, Gopal Sankhala
Social Indicators Research  vol: 162  issue: 1  first page: 123  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1007/s11205-021-02827-z

5. Assessment of livelihood vulnerability in the riparian region of the Tista River, West Bengal, India
Rajib Mitra, Deepak Kumar Mandal
GeoJournal  vol: 88  issue: 1  first page: 811  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1007/s10708-022-10645-0

6. Rural livelihood vulnerabilities, contributing factors and coping strategies in Takusa Woreda, North Western Ethiopia
Negusie Abuhay Mengistu
Cogent Social Sciences  vol: 8  issue: 1  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1080/23311886.2022.2095746

7. Assessing livelihood vulnerability to climate change in rural India
Kyawt Yin Min Thein, Vivek Kumar, Vijayaraghavan M Chariar, Takuji W. Tsusaka
World Development Sustainability  vol: 7  first page: 100249  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1016/j.wds.2025.100249

8. Flood hazards and livelihood vulnerability of flood-prone farm-dependent Bait households in Punjab, Pakistan
Dilshad Ahmad, Muhammad Afzal
Environmental Science and Pollution Research  vol: 29  issue: 8  first page: 11553  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-16443-4

9. İklim Değişikliği Etkilerinin Küresel Performans Göstergeleri Açısından Değerlendirilmesi
Burcu CALDA, Emre KUTLUĞ, Nazan AN, Levent KURNAZ
Resilience  vol: 6  issue: 1  first page: 171  year: 2022  
doi: 10.32569/resilience.963460

10. Spatial Exposure and Livelihood Vulnerability to Climate-Related Disasters in The North Coast of Tegal City, Indonesia
Iwan Rudiarto, Dony Pamungkas
International Review for Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development  vol: 8  issue: 3  first page: 34  year: 2020  
doi: 10.14246/irspsd.8.3_34

11. Dynamics of household welfare change and analysis of coping strategies during floods: an empirical investigation
Sibananda Senapati
International Journal of Social Economics  vol: 51  issue: 12  first page: 1602  year: 2024  
doi: 10.1108/IJSE-07-2023-0569

12. Human Capital, Social, Wages, and Welfare: Case of Small and Medium Enterprise Workers
Nurlina Tarmizi Muhyiddin, Bambang Bemby Soebyakto, Fauziah Asyiek, Aning Kesuma Putri, Idham Cholid, Liliana Liliana
Society  vol: 9  issue: 2  first page: 624  year: 2021  
doi: 10.33019/society.v9i2.283

13. Assessing livelihood vulnerability of rural communities in Dimapur district of Nagaland state, India: policy implications
Geeta Kumari, Yatendra Sharma, Haroon Sajjad
GeoJournal  vol: 88  issue: 3  first page: 3143  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1007/s10708-022-10800-7

14. Climate Change and Natural Hazards Vulnerability of Char Land (Bar Land) Communities of Bangladesh: Application of the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI)
Gausul Azam, Mohammad Emadul Huda, Mohammad Amir Hossain Bhuiyan, Mohammad Mohinuzzaman, Md. Bodrud-Doza, S. M. Didar-Ul Islam
Global Social Welfare  vol: 8  issue: 1  first page: 93  year: 2021  
doi: 10.1007/s40609-019-00148-1

15. Climate change vulnerability and adaptation of crop producers in sub-Saharan Africa: a review on concepts, approaches and methods
Sisay Belay Bedeke
Environment, Development and Sustainability  vol: 25  issue: 2  first page: 1017  year: 2023  
doi: 10.1007/s10668-022-02118-8

16. Watershed communities’ livelihood vulnerability to climate change in the Himalayas
Samjhana Adhikari, Nabin Dhungana, Suraj Upadhaya
Climatic Change  vol: 162  issue: 3  first page: 1307  year: 2020  
doi: 10.1007/s10584-020-02870-8

17. Livelihood vulnerability assessment to climate change and variability: the case of farm households in South-East Tunisia
Fatma Aribi, Mongi Sghaier
Environment, Development and Sustainability  vol: 23  issue: 8  first page: 12631  year: 2021  
doi: 10.1007/s10668-020-01172-4

18. Assessing the district-level flood vulnerability in Bihar, eastern India: an integrated socioeconomic and environmental approach
Guru Dayal Kumar, Kalandi Charan Pradhan
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment  vol: 196  issue: 9  year: 2024  
doi: 10.1007/s10661-024-12952-0

19. Building Social Resilience after the 2014 Flood Disaster
Sarina Yusoff, Nur Hafizah Yusoff
Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities  vol: 29  issue: 3  year: 2021  
doi: 10.47836/pjssh.29.3.13

20. Livelihood Vulnerability to Flood Hazard: Understanding from the Flood-prone Haor Ecosystem of Bangladesh
Mohammad Shamsul Hoq, Shankar Kumar Raha, Mohammad Ismail Hossain
Environmental Management  vol: 67  issue: 3  first page: 532  year: 2021  
doi: 10.1007/s00267-021-01441-6

21. Analysis of vulnerability, its drivers, and strategies applied towards reducing the pastoral and agro-pastoral livelihood vulnerability to climatic shocks
Daniel Assefa Tofu, Tegegn Dilbato, Chalchisa Fana, Niguse Bekele Dirbaba, Gutu Tesso
Scientific Reports  vol: 15  issue: 1  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-79165-w

22. Evaluating community vulnerability and co-management strategies in the Sundarbans forest-dependent region of Bangladesh: a socio-economic perspective
Md Tanvir Miah, Md Zakir Hossain, Niloy Biswas, Khan Rubayet Rahaman
Local Environment  first page: 1  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1080/13549839.2025.2570498

23. Assessing climate change vulnerability and livelihood strategies in Burkina Faso including insecurity paradigm: a focus on rain-fed agriculture households
Serigne Mbacké Coly, Malicki Zorom, Babacar Leye, Aboudramane Guiro, Harouna Karambiri
Environment, Development and Sustainability  year: 2024  
doi: 10.1007/s10668-024-05442-3

24. Livelihood vulnerability assessment among the agrarian indigenous communities of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve in India for building resilience and adaptation
Shibu Das, Kaushal Kumar Sharma
Environmental Science and Pollution Research  vol: 31  issue: 56  first page: 65137  year: 2024  
doi: 10.1007/s11356-024-35560-4

25. Assessing household level climate change induced livelihood vulnerability of rural workers using IPCC approach: evidence from Dimapur district, India
Geeta Kumari, Haroon Sajjad, Aastha Sharma
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change  vol: 30  issue: 7  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1007/s11027-025-10243-8

26. Assessing farmers’ vulnerability to floods and landslides in Kerala using a multidimensional Societal Vulnerability Index (SVIFL)
Dhanusha Balakrishnan, Archana Raghavan Sathyan, Ashutosh Jena, Christoph Funk, Lutz Breuer
Discover Environment  vol: 3  issue: 1  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1007/s44274-025-00444-y

27. Vulnerability to climate change among maize-dependent smallholders in three districts of Ethiopia
Sisay B. Bedeke, Wouter Vanhove, Muluken G. Wordofa, Kolandavel Natarajan, Patrick Van Damme
Environment, Development and Sustainability  vol: 22  issue: 2  first page: 693  year: 2020  
doi: 10.1007/s10668-018-0215-y

28. An assessment of the smallholder rice farming households’ vulnerability to climate change and variability in the Mekong delta region of Vietnam
Tien D. N. Ho, John K. M. Kuwornu, Takuji W. Tsusaka, Loc T. Nguyen, Avishek Datta
Local Environment  vol: 26  issue: 8  first page: 948  year: 2021  
doi: 10.1080/13549839.2021.1937971

29. Livelihood vulnerability assessment of slum dwellers in Rajshahi, Bangladesh: Capital indices-based approach
Shehan Tawsif, Shitangsu Kumar Paul, Md. Shohel Khan
Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences  vol: 15  issue: 4  first page: 827  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1007/s13412-024-00988-0

30. Mapping the need for adaptation: assessing drought vulnerability using the livelihood vulnerability index approach in a mid-hill region of Nepal
Janardan Mainali, Narcisa G. Pricope
Climate and Development  vol: 11  issue: 7  first page: 607  year: 2019  
doi: 10.1080/17565529.2018.1521329

31. Assessing livelihood vulnerability to sea level rise: a perspective to climate vulnerability and adaptation in the context of the Indian sundarbans delta
Anoop Kumar Shukla, Bijoya Ganguli, Nirwan, Sandeep Budde
Discover Sustainability  vol: 6  issue: 1  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1007/s43621-025-02046-3

32. An analysis of the vulnerability of informal and formal households to disaster risks in the Rand West City region
Nomonde Madubula, Elize van Eeden
Jàmbá Journal of Disaster Risk Studies  vol: 16  issue: 1  year: 2024  
doi: 10.4102/jamba.v16i1.1589

33. Factors influencing drought distress: a study on vulnerable communities in rural Karnataka, India
Ramesha Naika, Ramesh Jare
Discover Global Society  vol: 3  issue: 1  year: 2025  
doi: 10.1007/s44282-025-00157-w

34. Understanding Livelihood Vulnerability to Climate Change: Evidence from Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam
Van Hong Thi Ha, Nguyen Bang Nong
GATR Journal of Business and Economics Review  vol: 6  issue: 2  first page: 137  year: 2021  
doi: 10.35609/jber.2021.6.2(3)

35. Vulnerability of local farmers’ livelihood to climate variability across different agro ecology zone in Suha watershed, Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia
Zelalem Yekoye Alemayehu, Amare Sewnet Minale, Solomon Addisu Legesse
Climate and Development  vol: 16  issue: 1  first page: 36  year: 2024  
doi: 10.1080/17565529.2023.2178253

36. Climate Change Risk and Livelihood Vulnerability Assessment in Coastal Communities in Tanga and Pwani Regions of Tanzania
Boniventure H. Mchomvu, Sixbert S. Mwanga, Kassim R. Mussa, Stelyus L. Mkoma
American Journal of Climate Change  vol: 14  issue: 04  first page: 646  year: 2025  
doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2025.144031

37. Livelihood Vulnerability Associated with Forest Fire in Pauri-Garhwal, Western Himalaya
Shashidhar Kumar Jha, Purna Jana, A. K. Negi, Rajendra Singh Negi
The Open Ecology Journal  vol: 11  issue: 1  first page: 62  year: 2018  
doi: 10.2174/1874213001811010062

38. Drought and its impacts on small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa: a review
Shenelle Lottering, Paramu Mafongoya, Romano Lottering
South African Geographical Journal  vol: 103  issue: 3  first page: 319  year: 2021  
doi: 10.1080/03736245.2020.1795914

39. Livelihood vulnerability and climate change: a comparative analysis of smallholders in the Indo-Gangetic plains
Terese E. Venus, Stephanie Bilgram, Johannes Sauer, Arun Khatri-Chettri
Environment, Development and Sustainability  vol: 24  issue: 2  first page: 1981  year: 2022  
doi: 10.1007/s10668-021-01516-8