The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2019, published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), indicates stark inequalities existing both across and within countries. The MPI-2019, an upgrade from the MPI-2018, offers insight into poverty’s incidence and intensity across 101 countries, while highlighting deprivations in ten critical indicators like health, education, and living standard.
Developed collaboratively by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and UNDP, the index asserts that a single metric cannot adequately capture the complexity and multidimensionality of poverty and inequality. To complement these gaps, studies such as MPI, Human Development Index and Gini coefficient contribute vital information to guide policy actions for effective poverty reduction.
Key Findings of the MPI 2019
As per the MPI, approximately 1.3 billion people across the globe are still grappling with multidimensional poverty. This implies that poverty is not just about insufficient income; it is about poor health, substandard work conditions, and violence threats.
The levels of poverty and inequality are alarmingly high particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. However, countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam have shown encouraging progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 1: eradicating poverty in all its forms everywhere.
Children are more vulnerable to multidimensional poverty than adults, with every third child under the age of 10 and every second child below 18 classified as multidimensionally poor. Around 34% of the world’s children and 17.5% adults in the MPI survey are suffering multidimensional poverty. Majority of these children reside in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
In certain African countries like Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Niger, and South Sudan, over 90% of children under the age of 10 are classified as multidimensionally poor.
Poverty Reduction Trends Across Selected Countries
Poverty reduction is uneven across the ten aforementioned countries, with rural areas experiencing higher degrees of poverty than their urban counterparts. However, in countries like Cambodia, Haiti, India, and Peru, the decrease in rurality’s poverty has outpaced that of urban areas.
| Country | Poverty Reduction Trend |
|---|---|
| Bangladesh | Positive |
| Cambodia | Positive, more in rural areas |
| Democratic Republic of Congo | Positive |
| Ethiopia | Positive |
| Haiti | Positive, more in rural areas |
| India | Positive, more in rural areas |
| Nigeria | Positive |
| Pakistan | Positive |
| Peru | Positive, more in rural areas |
| Vietnam | Positive |
Case Study: India’s Success Story
India has succeeded in lifting 271 million people out of poverty between 2006 and 2016, having achieved the fastest reductions in the multidimensional poverty index values during this period. Significant improvements were recorded in areas such as assets, cooking fuel, sanitation, and nutrition.
Among the selected countries, India (along with Cambodia) had reduced its MPI values at the fastest rate, ensuring that the poorest sections of the society were not left behind. India’s state of Jharkhand showed remarkable progress, reducing the incidence of multidimensional poverty from 74.9% in 2005-06 to 46.5% in 2015-16.
Furthermore, India (along with Ethiopia and Peru) has significantly cut deprivation across all ten indicators, including nutrition, sanitation, child mortality, drinking water, years of schooling, electricity, school attendance, housing, cooking fuel, and assets. As a result, the country experienced a sharp decline in MPI, from 640 million people (55.1%) in 2005-2006 to 369 million people (27.9%) in 2015-16.
