Measuring Rural Poverty with a Multidimensional Approach: The Rural Multidimensional Poverty Index

Evidence indicates that poverty worldwide is concentrated in rural areas, and that agriculture is central to the livelihoods and food security of these population groups. This extended and jointly authored report with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) articulates a conceptual framework for measuring multidimensional poverty in rural areas, and develops a rural Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). The rural MPI is applied to four countries – Malawi, Ethiopia, Niger and Nigeria – and presents exciting new insights relevant for policymakers, academics and practitioners working on rural poverty alleviation.

The first part of the report proposes a framework for measuring multidimensional poverty in rural areas and describes the motivation for the Rural Multidimensional Poverty Index (R-MPI) proposal, which departs from the established global Multidimensional Poverty Index (global MPI), first designed in 2010 as an international measure of acute poverty covering over 100 developing countries, by adding modifications in the dimensions and embedded indicators. The second part of this report presents an empirical test of the proposed R-MPI, using data from four household surveys conducted in Ethiopia, Malawi, the Niger, and Nigeria which are harmonized within the Rural Livelihoods Information System (RuLIS).

Citation: FAO and OPHI (2022). 'Measuring rural poverty with a multidimensional approach: The Rural Multidimensional Poverty Index', FAO Statistical Development Series, No. 19. Rome, FAO.