More people may become poor: UNDP’s MPI report

KABUL (Pajhwok): The UN Development Fund (UNDP) has released the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (GMI) 2022 report. It provides new analyses of the 2022 update of MPI.

The report is available to anyone interested in multidimensional poverty for further exploration technical and methodological notes and ongoing research.

According to the report the lives of poor people are complex, in part because multiple deprivations strike them together.

This complexity has only increased in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Rising food and fuel prices, climate shocks and a looming global recession have compounded uncertainties and post-pandemic challenges.

Not only could more people become poor, but the intensity of poverty could increase. By looking closely at the interlinked deprivations of poor people, this report provides valuable insights on how to tackle multidimensional poverty -- referred to simply as “poverty” throughout -- by addressing its multiple dimensions.

The micro data used to estimate the 2022 global MPI values are gathered from household surveys across 111 countries, covering 6.1 billion people.

This report uses those estimates to make visible, for the first time, common deprivation profiles and bundles: Combinations of deprivations experienced by 1.2 billion poor people, or nearly double the number of people in monetary poverty.

Such data can be used in responses from the global to the local level. As Dr. Teresa de Jesus, who works at a health centre in Tomalá, Honduras, says: “The challenge for us as a community is to join forces.

“Focusing only on health will not work; family income and housing conditions also limit a child’s development and increase the risk for undernourishment.”

Understanding these deprivation profiles, or bundles, helps in designing integrated policies that can tackle multiple deprivations at once

Of the 81 countries with trend data, 72 significantly reduced their MPI value during at least one of the time periods analysed.

Of these 72 countries, 68 significantly reduced deprivations among poor people in five or more indicators during that period, with 46 cutting deprivations in eight or more.

These trends are promising: many countries have already reduced deprivations in multiple indicators.

A special section of this report highlights trends over 15 years in India, where the number of poor people dropped by about 415 million.

nh/mud