PHM-Exch> Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries (2)

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) ruglucia at paho.org
crossposted from: EQUIDAD at listserv.paho.org


 *Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries

*

Sabina Alkire,  Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), Queen
Elizabeth House (QEH), Department of International Development

Maria Emma Santos, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, UK and
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad
Nacional del Sur, Argentina.

*Oxford** Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) - Oxford Department
of International Development - Queen Elizabeth House (QEH), University of
Oxford - July 2010

***

Available online PDF [133p.] at: http://bit.ly/9Ds9wt

“…..This paper presents a new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for 104
developing countries. It is the first time multidimensional poverty is
estimated using micro datasets (household surveys) for such a large number
of countries which cover about 78 percent of the world´s population. The MPI
has the mathematical structure of one of the Alkire and Foster poverty
multidimensional measures and it is composed of ten indicators corresponding
to same three dimensions as the Human Development Index: Education, Health
and Standard of Living.



Our results indicate that 1,700 million people in the world live in acute
poverty, a figure that is between the $1.25/day and $2/day poverty rates.
Yet it is no $1.5/day measure. The MPI captures direct failures in
*functionings
*that Amartya Sen argues should form the focal space for describing and
reducing poverty. It constitutes a tool with an extraordinary potential to
target the poorest, track the Millennium Development Goals, and design
policies that directly address the interlocking deprivations poor people
experience. This paper presents the methodology and components in the MPI
and describes main results, and shares basic robustness tests…..”

**

*Multidimensional Poverty Index  MPI** at: *
http://www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index/*

*

* “….OPHI and the UNDP Human Development Report launch the Multidimensional
Poverty Index or MPI* – an innovative new measure that gives a vivid
“multidimensional” picture of people living in poverty. The MPI will be
featured in the 20th Anniversary edition of the UNDP Human Development
Report and goes beyond income by reflecting a range of deprivations that
afflict a person’s life at the same time.

The measure assesses the nature and intensity of poverty at the individual
level in education, health outcomes, and standard of living.  OPHI has just
concluded a first ever estimate and analysis of global multidimensional
poverty across 104 developing countries, and is releasing these results in
advance of the Report’s October publication…”

*Short country-specific summaries on the results of the MPI analyses in 104
developing nations
*
http://www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index/mpi-country-briefings/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://phm.phmovement.org/pipermail/phm-exchange-phmovement.org/attachments/20100715/0fdde2e7/attachment.html>