Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

In News

• Recently, the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

Key Findings

• India:
  • In India, five out of six multidimensionally poor people are from lower tribes or castes. 
  • The Scheduled Tribe group:
    • It accounts for 9.4 per cent of the population and is the poorest, with 65 million of the 129 million people living in multidimensional poverty.
    • They account for about one-sixth of all people living in multidimensional poverty in India.
  • Scheduled Caste group:
    • With 33.3 percent — 94 million of 283 million people — living in multidimensional poverty.
  • Other Backward Class:
    • 27.2 per cent of the Other Backward Class group – 160 million of 588 million people — lives in multidimensional poverty, 
    • It shows a lower incidence but a similar intensity compared with the Scheduled Caste group.
  • Female headed household:
    • In India, close to 12 percent of the population — 162 million people — live in female-headed households.
• Global:
  • No female studied in family: 
    • Among the 1.3 billion multidimensionally poor people studied globally, almost two-thirds — 836 million — live in households in which no female member has completed at least six years of schooling.
    • This exclusion of women from education has far-reaching impacts on societies around the world.
    • Area:
      • These 836 million people live mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa (363 million) and South Asia (350 million).
    • Countries:
      • Seven countries account for more than 500 million of them: India (227 million), Pakistan (71 million), Ethiopia (59 million), Nigeria (54 million), China (32 million), Bangladesh (30 million) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (27 million).
  • No women older than 10:
    • It said that about 16 million multidimensionally poor men and children (0.3 per cent of the total population) live in households without a woman or girl aged 10 or older.
    • But nearly half of multidimensionally poor people who live with a woman or a girl — 622 million — live in households in which no one, regardless of gender, has completed six or more years of schooling.
  • Multidimensional poverty: 
    • Countries:
      • According to the report, the top five countries with the largest number of people living in multidimensional poverty are in India (2015/16) at 381 millions, Nigeria (2018): 93 million, Pakistan (2017/18): 83 million, Ethiopia (2019): 77 million, Democratic Republic of the Congo (2017/18): 56 million.
    • Across the 5. 9 billion people who live in the 109 countries studied, more than one in five — 1.3 billion — live in multidimensional poverty.
    • Children:
      • Half of global multidimensionally poor people are children. 
    • Social protections during COVID:
      • And although pre pandemic multidimensional poverty levels were declining, the poorest countries lacked emergency social protections during the COVID-19 pandemic and could suffer the most.
    • Female-headed households:
      • One in six multidimensionally poor people — 207 million — across 108 countries live in female-headed households.
      • Nearly a quarter of them live in India, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Uganda are together home to another quarter.

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index

• Definition:
  • The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is an international measure of acute multidimensional poverty covering over 100 developing countries. 
  • It complements traditional monetary poverty measures by capturing the acute deprivations in health, education, and living standards that a person faces simultaneously.
• Developed by:
  • The global MPI was developed by Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) for inclusion in UNDP’s flagship Human Development Report in 2010. 
  • It has been published annually by OPHI and in the HDRs ever since.
• Indicator:

Image Courtesy: OPHI 

• Relation with Sustainable Development Goals:

•  Multi dimensional poor person:
  • A person is multidimensionally poor if she/he is deprived in one third or more (means 33% or more) of the weighted indicators (out of the ten indicators). Those who are deprived in one half or more of the weighted indicators are considered living in extreme multidimensional poverty.
  • MPI is significant as it recognizes poverty from different dimensions compared to the conventional methodology that measures poverty only from the income or monetary terms.

Indian Efforts

• NITI Aayog is in the last stage for preparation of Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) parameter dashboard and a State Reform Action Plan (SRAP).
• In this regard, the Niti Aayog will leverage the monitoring mechanism of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index.
• NITI Aayog is the nodal agency for the MPI.
• Global MPI is part of Government of India’s decision to monitor the performance of the country in 29 select Global Indices.
• Part of the “Global Indices to Drive Reforms and Growth (GIRG)” exercise:
  • The objective of the “Global Indices to Drive Reforms and Growth (GIRG)” exercise is to fulfil the need to measure and monitor India’s performance on various important social and economic parameters.
• This will enable the utilisation of these Indices as tools for self-improvement, bring about reforms in policies, while improving last-mile implementation of government schemes.

Way Ahead

• This year’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) reminds us of the need for a complete picture of how people are being affected by poverty, who they are and where they live.
• There is a need to design effective responses that leave no one behind.

Source: NIE