Identifying the Poorest People and Groups: Strategies Using the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index

If development is about poverty reduction, then where the poorest live is an important question. This paper seeks to answer this questionusing an internationally comparable multidimensional poverty index (MPI) to identify the poor using household surveys across more than a hundred countries. We compare three approaches to identifying the bottom billion: (i) the billion living in the poorest countries; (ii) the billion living in the poorest subnational regions and (iii) the poorest billion according to the intensity of their deprivations. Although there are commonalities across these three approaches, they produce notably different findings that are relevant to the discussions of sustainable development goals. 

Citation: Alkire, S., Roche, J. M., Seth, S. and Sumner, A. (2014). 'Identifying the poorest people and groups: Strategies using the global Multidimensional Poverty Index', OPHI Working Papers 78, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford.

Also published in Journal of International Development, 2015, Vol. 27, pp. 362-387.