Iraqi Human Development Report presents multidimensional poverty index as tool for youth empowerment

Income, female education and job security have been identified as crucial to youth empowerment in Iraq in a new report by the Iraqi government and UNDP Iraq, which presents a national Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).

Jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Iraqi Prime Minister Dr. Haidar Al-Abadi and Minister of Planning Dr. Salman Al-Jumaily  launched the National Human Development Report  2014 under the theme ‘Iraqi Youth: Challenges and Opportunities’ in Baghdad in December 2014. The National Human Development Report focuses on opportunities and challenges related to youth development in line with the focus on youth empowerment set in the Iraqi government’s  National Development Plan 2013–2017.

The report presents an MPI for Iraq which is comprised of five dimensions in line with the priorities of the National Development Plan: education (4 indicators), basic services (4 indicators), nutrition and health (4 indicators), standard of living (3 indicators), and employment (6 indicators).  The dimensions were given equal weight and families were identified as multidimensionally poor if they were deprived in at least 33 percent of the indicators. The report estimates results based on the Iraq Knowledge Network Survey of 2011 and finds that 13.3 percent of Iraq’s population is multidimensionally poor.

Multidimensional poverty varies greatly from one Iraqi governorate to another. About 30 percent of the population in the governorates of Maysan and Wasit suffer from multidimensional poverty, compared to 4.3 percent in Baghdad and 1.4 percent in Sulaymaniya. The results also show the dimensions most responsible for multidimensional poverty. Income accounts for 17 percent of the total deprivation score, followed by female primary education at 9 percent and insecure employment. The report recommends that these results should be used to indicate priorities for social policies that will benefit the youth.

The report provides the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to both the youth and the government of Iraq as a tool for the monitoring, observation, follow-up, and advocacy of policies centered on the youth.

Further information

Read the full report: ‘UNDP Iraq Human Development Report 2014: Iraqi Youth, Challenges and Opportunities.’