Multidimensional living conditions index for Grenada identifies those most in need

New research published in the OPHI working paper series has proposed a multidimensional living conditions index for Grenada to identify the country’s most deprived households.

Researchers from the University of Essex, the Colombian Government and the University of Oxford constructed the Grenadian living conditions index (GLCI) to provide an effective targeting tool for poverty reduction policies, enabling resources to be focused on those most in need.

The GLCI prioritises quality of life and living conditions, rather than income or expenditure. Based on the Alkire Foster method and related methodologies, it provides a combined measure of 22 different indicators of poverty, which are grouped into seven dimensions:

• demographic and health vulnerability;
• childhood conditions;
• household educational environment;
• educative services access;
• labour conditions;
• resources at home; and
• dwelling conditions and access to dwelling services.

To ensure that poverty reduction policies can be accurately targeted and measured, the proposed GLCI can be broken down to reveal how households are poor (which indicators they are deprived in) and the degree of deprivation they experience (how far they are from the determined poverty threshold), as well as showing changes in poverty over time.

The index can be tailored according to the focus and criteria of each social programme, for example, by enabling policymakers to change eligibility thresholds. It can also be compared to information on expenditure poverty to maximise precision in identifying which households are eligible for public assistance.

Read the full paper

‘Targeting Grenada’s Most Deprived Population: A Multidimensional Living Conditions Assessment’, by Yadira Diaz, Francisco Alejandro Espinoza, Yvonni Markaki and Lina Maria Sanchez-Cespedes, was published in the OPHI working paper series in March 2015.