Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2019: Illuminating Inequalities

The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was developed by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) for the United Nations Development Programme’s flagship Human Development Report in 2010. The global MPI calculates ‘multidimensional poverty’ using 10 indicators that fall under three dimensions of poverty – health, education and standard of living. It compares the multidimensional poverty of 101 countries and 5.7 billion people, and monitors change over time. This 2019 report says that while poverty is often defined by income (the international poverty rate is US$1.90), it can also be defined in terms of the deprivations people face in their daily lives. It says that the global MPI is one tool to measure progress on the first of the United Nations’ 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, which is to end poverty in all forms. The report uses data from demographic and health surveys, ‘multiple indicator cluster surveys’ and national surveys. It says that the intensity of poverty experienced by poor people varies across countries, even if they have similar MPI values. It specifically highlights child poverty in South Asia and analyses data on nutrition, school attendance and years of schooling (three global MPI indicators) from a study supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund.