Being poor is more than just the amount of money a person has.
Poverty is a multidimensional issue that concerns a person’s level of health access and coverage, available educational opportunities and quality of life, according to the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. The U.K.-based think tank released on Tuesday the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, which helps provide a better understanding of the causes of poverty to better address the issue. The index offers a more in-depth measure on poverty through a checklist of “deprivations.”
OPHI classifies poverty at an individual level and determines whether they are “MPI-poor” or not. The 10 indicators of poverty are subdivided into three dimensions. For the health dimension, the measures are nutrition and child mortality, while for education, the indicators are the years of schooling and school attendance. The living standard dimension is more specific; indicators include cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, flooring and assets (property).
About the author
Lean Alfred Santos@DevexLeanAS
Lean Alfred Santos is a former Devex development reporter focusing on the development community in Asia-Pacific, including major players such as the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. He previously covered Philippine and international business and economic news, sports and politics.
