Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index

The Multidimensional Poverty Index was first introduced in 2010 and it an attempt designed to illustrate the many deprivations faced by the most severely disadvantaged

The MPI requires a household to be deprived in multiple indicators at the same time. A person is multi-dimensionally poor if the weighted indicators in which he or she is deprived add up to at least 33%. The MPI is closely linked to the Millennium Development Goals targets and includes ten components:

• 1.Possession of some assets
• 2.Nutrition
• 3.Child mortality
• 4.Access to drinking water
• 5.Access to sanitation
• 6.Access to a safe room
• 7.Access to electricity
• 8.Access to an improved cooking oil
• 9.Years of schooling
• 10.Children enrolled in school

The 2014 Human Development Report – Focus on Vulnerability as a Barrier to Development

Each year the HDI report focuses on a key issue affecting progress in improving human development. In 2014 the issue highlighted was vulnerability and in particular the exposure of people to shocks:

• Environmental shocks including natural disasters
• Financial volatility
• Armed conflicts
• Long-term social, economic and environmental changes
• High and volatile commodity prices
• Precarious employment and absence of a sufficient social safety net

According to the UNDP, despite recent progress in poverty reduction, more than 2.2 billion people are either near or living in multidimensional poverty. That means more than 15 percent of the world’s people remain vulnerable to multidimensional poverty.