Child Poverty in Bhutan: Insights from Multidimensional Child Poverty Index and Qualitative Interviews with Poor Children

The first part of the monograph presents the Child Multidimensional Poverty Index (C-MPI) constructed using Bhutan Multiple Indicators Survey (BMIS, 2010). The C-MPI was based on the Alkire Foster methodology for multidimensional poverty measures. After constructing a national official MPI (2012) and using it to inform the country’s Five Year Plan’s Resource Allocation Formula (RAF), Bhutan became the first country in the world to develop the Child-MPI. This measure focuses exclusively on children and their experiences of overlapping deprivations.

The second part presents the analysis of qualitative data collected through the in- depth interviews of 140 poor children in six Dzongkhags (districts). In part III a few selected cases are presented.

UNICEF, Bhutan Country Office provided the funding for the study. The monograph is a part of the thematic studies of the Socio-Economic Analysis and Research Division (SEARD), NSB. The Division conducts on a regular basis the studies on the issues of policy importance and in areas where the research gap exists. The monographs covering various socioeconomic themes can be obtained from the National Statistics Bureau (NSB), Thimphu. The electronic versions are available at www.nsb.gov.bt under Research Reports.

Citation: Alkire, S., Dorji, L, Gyeltshen, S, and Minten, T. (2016). Child Poverty in Bhutan: Insights from Multidimensional Child Poverty Index and Qualitative Interviews with Poor Children. National Statistics Bureau, Monograph Series 9, Thimphu, Bhutan.