Discussion of global MPI 2011

On 7 December 2011, OPHI released new MPI analysis for 2011 at a special policy forum in London, UK. Presentations of the new work by Sabina Alkire, José Manuel Roche and Suman Seth were followed by responses from Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Columbia University and Professor James Foster, George Washington University. The panel was chaired by Joanna Macrae of DFID’s Research and Evidence Division, which featured a lively Q&A. Key findings for the global MPI 2011: 

• Most MPI poor people live in middle-income countries – as do most ‘severely’ MPI poor people 
• 50% of the MPI poor people live in South Asia and 29% in Sub-Saharan Africa 
• Income classifications hide wide disparities in MPI poverty: The percentage of MPI poor people in low income countries varies from 5% to 92%; in middle income, from 1-77%. 
• MPI varies within countries, sometimes greatly. 
• Poverty reduction over time varies by dimension and by region.