Launch of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2014

The Global MPI is an international measure of acute poverty covering over 100 developing countries which provides invaluable insights for the post-2015 development agenda. We will present new estimations for 30 countries covering 2.5 billion people, and release new studies that answer the following questions:

1. What percentage of MPI poor people live in rural vs urban areas? We will release urban-rural disaggregations of our data for all 108 countries, as well as disaggregated data for nearly 800 subnational regions.
2. Who are the destitute and where do they live? We have identified millions of people who are MPI poor yet also suffer deeper deprivations – such as severe malnutrition, the tragic loss of two or more children, practising open defecation, or not owning so much as a mobile phone or radio.  We expose sobering facts on where they live and how they are poor – and where destitution was reduced most – to help policymakers fight extreme poverty more effectively.
3. Reducing MPI poverty – LICs and LDC heroes. This in-depth study tracks changes in MPI poverty over time for 2.5 billion people, and reveals impressive leadership among some low income and least developed countries. Surprising subnational patterns emerge as well – in one country, the poorest ethnic group reduced poverty the most; in another, not at all.
4. Inequality and Disparity.  Distilling information from each person’s deprivation score in over 90 countries, and the MPI values of nearly 800 subnational regions, we release new measures of inequality among the poor, and of disparity in poverty across regions.

Taken together, these studies demonstrate the value for policy of a global index of multidimensional poverty that reflects deprivations directly (without the need for PPPs), complements monetary measures, and can be disaggregated to provide powerful insights.  We look forward to your input in debating the relevance of an improved MPI 2015+ for the drive to eradicate poverty post-2015. Speakers will include OPHI’s Sabina Alkire, Adriana Conconi, Suman Seth and Ana Vaz, co-authors of this year’s MPI outputs. The event will feature a contribution from Amina Mohammed, Special Advisor to the Secretary-General on Post-2015 Development Planning, and reflections from Kevin Watkins, Executive Director at the ODI, and James Foster, OPHI Research Associate and Professor of Economics and International Affairs at The Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. Tea and coffee will be served from 2.30pm, and the event will run from 3.00-4.30pm. It will be video streamed live online.