Identifying and classifying poor and rich groups in cities depends on several factors. Using data from available nationally representative surveys from 38 sub-Saharan African countries, we aimed to identify, through different poverty classifications, the best classification in urban and large city contexts. Additionally, we characterized the poor and rich groups in terms of living standards and schooling. We relied on absolute and relative measures in the identification process. For absolute ones, we selected people living below the poverty line, socioeconomic deprivation status and the UN-Habitat slum definition. We used different cut-off points for relative measures based on wealth distribution: 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60%. We analyzed all these measures according to the absence of electricity, improved drinking water and sanitation facilities, the proportion of children out-of-school, and any household member aged 10 or more with less than 6 years of education. We used the sample size, the gap between the poorest and richest groups, and the observed agreement between absolute and relative measures to identify the best measure. The best classification was based on 40% of the wealth since it has good discriminatory power between groups and median observed agreement higher than 60% in all selected cities. Using this measure, the median prevalence of absence of improved sanitation facilities was 82% among the poorer, and this indicator presented the highest inequalities. Educational indicators presented the lower prevalence and inequalities. Luanda, Ouagadougou, and N’Djaména were considered the worst performers, while Lagos, Douala, and Nairobi were the best performers. The higher the human development index, the lower the observed inequalities. When analyzing cities using nationally representative surveys, we recommend using the relative measure of 40% of wealth to characterize the poorest group. This classification presented large gaps in the selected outcomes and good agreement with absolute measures.

城市中贫困群体和富裕群体的识别和分类取决于几个因素。我们利用来自 38 个撒哈拉以南非洲国家的现有全国代表性调查数据，旨在通过不同的贫困分类确定城市和大城市背景下的最佳分类。此外，我们还根据生活水平和教育程度来描述穷人和富人群体的特征。我们在识别过程中依靠绝对和相对措施。对于绝对贫民窟，我们选择了生活在贫困线、社会经济贫困状况和联合国人居署贫民窟定义以下的人们。我们根据财富分配情况使用不同的分界点来进行相对衡量：30%、40%、50% 和 60%。我们根据电力供应不足、饮用水和卫生设施改善、失学儿童比例以及 10 岁或以上受教育程度低于 6 年的家庭成员的比例对所有这些措施进行了分析。我们利用样本量、最贫穷群体和最富有群体之间的差距，以及观察到的绝对测量值和相对测量值之间的一致性来确定最佳测量值。最好的分类是基于 40% 的财富，因为它在群体之间具有良好的区分能力，并且在所有选定城市中观察到的中位数一致性高于 60%。根据这一衡量标准，贫困人口中缺乏改善卫生设施的中位数为 82%，该指标呈现出最高的不平等程度。教育指标显示出较低的患病率和不平等。罗安达、瓦加杜古和恩贾梅纳被认为表现最差，而拉各斯、杜阿拉和内罗毕则表现最好。人类发展指数越高，观察到的不平等现象就越少。在使用全国代表性调查分析城市时，我们建议使用 40% 财富的相对衡量标准来描述最贫困群体的特征。这种分类在选定的结果中呈现出巨大差距，并且与绝对措施具有良好的一致性。