OPHI Briefing 57 (PDF)
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has altered people’s lives in a multifaceted way. It is now clear that the progress in poverty reduction is also at stake. This briefing analyses the most recent and up-to-date trends in multidimensional poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) prior to the pandemic, which is essential for understanding both the progress made in the past and for use as a benchmark for the future.
The briefing first presents the levels of multidimensional poverty in LAC according to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2020.
Erratum: The source for Table A1 in the Appendix is erroneously stated as ‘Alkire, Nogales, Quinn, and Suppa (2020)’ in the briefing. The correct source information for this table should read ‘Alkire, Kanagaratnam and Suppa (2020).
Authors: Hector Moreno and Mónica Pinilla-Roncancio
Year: 2021
Citation: Moreno, H. and Pinilla-Roncancio, M. (2021). ‘Multidimensional Poverty and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean: Recent Trends and the Route Ahead’, OPHI Briefing 57, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford.
According to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), an internationally comparable measure, poverty in developing countries has fallen substantially over the last 15 years. The COVID-19 pandemic and associated economic contraction are negatively impacting multiple dimensions of poverty and jeopardising this progress. This paper uses quantitative assessments of increases in food insecurity and out of school children made by UN agencies to inform microsimulations of potential impacts of the pandemic under six alternative scenarios. These simulations use the nationally representative datasets underlying the 2020 update of the global MPI. Because these datasets were collected between one and 12 years pre-pandemic, we develop models to translate the simulated impacts to 2020 while accounting for underlying poverty reduction trends and country-specific factors. Aggregating results across 70 countries that account for 89% of the global poor according to the 2020 global MPI, we find that the potential setback to multidimensional poverty reduction is between 3.6 and 9.9 years under the alternative scenarios.
An earlier version of this work was circulated as part of “On track or not? Projecting the global Multidimensional Poverty Index”, OPHI Research in Progress 58a.
Citation: Alkire, S., Nogales, R., Quinn, N. N. and Suppa, N. (2021). ‘Global multidimensional poverty and COVID-19: A decade of progress at risk?’, OPHI Research in Progress 61a, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, University of Oxford.
Job title: Consultant
Email: Please contact ophi@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Ryohei is a Consultant at OPHI and a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Demographic Studies in Barcelona. He is responsible for editing the manuscripts of the OPHI Working Paper series. His substantive research focus is fertility, particularly childlessness and intimacy.
PhD in Demography, Autonomous University of Barcelona and Centre for Demographic Studies
European Research Certificate in Demography, European Doctoral School of Demography (EDSD), Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and La Sapienza University of Rome
MA in Economics, Meiji University
BA in Economics, Meiji University
Demography; Family demography; Formal demography; Fertility; Childlessness; Intimacy; Union formation.
Riffe, T., Acosta, E., …, Mogi, R., et al. (forthcoming). ‘A database of age-structured COVID-19 cases and deaths (COVerAGE-DB)’, International Journal of Epidemiology.
Lazzari, E., Mogi, R., and Canudas-Romo, V. (forthcoming). ‘Educational gradient and parity contribution to completed cohort fertility decline in low fertility settings’, Population Studies.
Mogi, R., Nisén, J., and Canudas-Romo, V. (2021). ‘Cross-sectional average length of life childless’, Demography, 8937427.
Mogi, R. and del Mundo, M. (2020). ‘Decomposing changes in first birth trends: Quantum, timing, or variance’, Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, vol. 18 (online-first).
Esteve, A., Boertien, D., Mogi, R., and Lozano, M. (2020). ‘Understanding fertility variations across below-replacement societies: A challenge for demography’, Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, vol. 18 (online-first).
Mogi, R. and Canudas-Romo, V. (2020). ‘Cross-sectional average length of life by parity: Illustration for the US cohorts in reproductive ages in 2015’, in (R. Schoen ed.), Analyzing Contemporary Fertility, pp. 293–306, Springer.
Uchikoshi, F. and Mogi, R. (2018). ‘Order matters: The effect of premarital pregnancy on second childbearing in Japan’, Demographic Research, vol. 39(48), pp.1305–1330. Mogi, R. and Canudas-Romo, V. (2018). ‘Expected years ever married’, Demographic Research, vol. 38(47), pp.1423–1456.
Job title: Consultant
Email: Please contact ophi@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Alexandra works as a research and policy consultant for OPHI advising and producing policy briefs and supporting research projects. She has previously worked in international relations and development in Uganda and Strasbourg, for governmental, non-governmental and international institutions.
MPhil in International Relations, University of Oxford
BA in Political Science, University of Vienna
Conflict and peace; Capability Approach; Multidimensional poverty; Human development; Human rights; Citizenship.
Job title: Research Associate
Email: Please contact ophi@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Rizwan is a Research Associate at OPHI. He is also Assistant Professor of Development Studies at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics where he is Head of the Department of Development Studies. He has more than 18 years of experience in population and development mainly focusing on poverty, ageing and health. He has worked in the United Nations Development Programme in the preparation of National Human Development Report for Pakistan on Youth.
PhD Demography, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
MSc Population Studies, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
MSc Statistics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Poverty; health; well-being; migration; and population and development.
Job Title: Researcher
Email: Please contact ophi@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Putu supports the outreach team at OPHI and is also currently helping with harmonising data for the global MPI. Putu is also a Statistics/Quantitative Methods tutor at Keble College.
Before OPHI, Putu worked as a Research Assistant at the Blavatnik School of Government, helping with constructing Stata do-files and analysing how technology can further good governance. She has worked as a Research Assistant to Professor Ari Kuncoro (University of Indonesia) and Professor Vernon Henderson (Brown University) on, among other research topics, disaster resilience in Indonesia.
DPhil Social Policy (Jardine-Oxford Scholar), Trinity College, University of Oxford
MPhil Development Studies (Jardine Scholar), Trinity College, University of Oxford
Bachelor of Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia
Poverty; multidimensional poverty measurement; inequality; social policy
Phillips, T., Kira, B., Tartakowsky, A., Dolan, J. and Natih, P. (2020). ‘Digital technology governance: developing countries’ priorities and concerns’, Digital Pathways at Oxford, no. 3.
Natih, P. G. L. (2020, August 13). ‘How Digital Technology Can Reduce Inequality’, The Jakarta Post
Natih, P. G. L. (2017, November 10). ‘Freedom from Poverty: Reflection on Heroes Day’, The Jakarta Post
Natih, P. G. L. (2015). ‘Technical Efficiency Levels of Rural Banks (BPRs) in West Java: A Stochastic Frontier Approach.’ Economics and Finance in Indonesia, 61(3), pp. 223–240.
Job title: Research Assistant
Email: Please contact ophi@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Ingrid supports OPHI’s writing and production of policy briefs and reports on multidimensional poverty. She is also a Research Assistant at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo, and has previously worked for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sarajevo and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in New Delhi.
MPhil in Development Studies, University of Oxford
BA(Hons) Combined Honours in Social Sciences (Politics and International Relations, History and Economics), Durham University
Gender and women’s empowerment; women’s movements; feminist theory; poverty and human development; China-Africa and India-Africa relations
Job title: Researcher
Email: Please contact ophi@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Ayush works with OPHI creating data visualization outputs and dashboards related to Multidimensional Poverty Indices (MPI). He also works on creating a guide for coding MPI using R.
His previous work involves research on rights-based laws in India and working with elected representatives and state governments for the implementation and monitoring of welfare programmes in Maharashtra, India.
Ayush is a RStudio certified tidyverse instructor and enjoys teaching data analysis skills using R.
Postgraduate Diploma in Business Analytics, University of Mumbai
Postgraduate Diploma in Economics and Finance, University of Mumbai
Bachelor of Engineering, Gujarat Technological University
Development Economics; Multidimensional Poverty; Rights-Based Laws
Job Title: Advisor
The work of OPHI is grounded in the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen who remains a much valued advisor.
Amartya Sen is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University. He has been the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and a Professor of Economics at Jadavpur University Calcutta, the Delhi School of Economics, and the London School of Economics, and Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University.
Amartya Sen has also served as President of the Econometric Society, the American Economic Association, the Indian Economic Association, and the International Economic Association. He was formerly Honorary President of OXFAM and is now its Honorary Advisor. His research has ranged over social choice theory, economic theory, ethics and political philosophy, welfare economics, theory of measurement, decision theory, development economics, public health, and gender studies.
Amartya Sen’s books have been translated into more than thirty languages, and include Choice of Techniques (1960), Growth Economics (1970), Collective Choice and Social Welfare (1970), On Economic Inequality (1973, 1997); Poverty and Famines (1981); Utilitarianism and Beyond (jointly with Bernard Williams, 1982); Choice, Welfare and Measurement (1982), Commodities and Capabilities (1985), The Standard of Living (1987), On Ethics and Economics (1987); Hunger and Public Action (jointly with Jean Drèze, 1989); Inequality Re-examined (1992); The Quality of Life (jointly with Martha Nussbaum, 1993); Development as Freedom (1999); Rationality and Freedom (2002); The Argumentative Indian (2005); Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny (2006), The Idea of Justice (2009), An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions (jointly with Jean Drèze, 2013), and The Country of First Boys (2015).
Amartya Sen’s awards include Bharat Ratna (India); Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur (France); the National Humanities Medal (USA); Ordem do Merito Cientifico (Brazil); Honorary Companion of Honour (UK); the Aztec Eagle (Mexico); the Edinburgh Medal (UK); the George Marshall Award (USA); the Eisenhower Medal (USA). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998.
Job Title: Advisor
Sudhir is Emeritus Professor of Economics and Fellow of St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford and a Visiting Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. Sudhir is involved in a big multi-year research project at Harvard on health equity in Asia, which began in January 2020.
Sudhir is an internationally recognised Development Microeconomist having published widely on economic inequality and poverty, undernutrition, health economics, human nutrition, population ethics and other subjects in economics and health. In September 2017, Sudhir was appointed Centennial Professor at the London School of Economics, based at the International Inequalities Institute.
Oxford-based theatre company Justice in Motion have produced a short play on behalf of OPHI, exploring the multidimensional layers of poverty. Watch a video of the performance below.
A high resolution version of this video is available to watch on YouTube.
Find out more about multidimensional poverty.