This report (in Spanish) presents the findings of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) of Paraguay, which aims to inform and guide poverty reduction strategies. The Paraguayan MPI was developed as part of a collaboration led by the National Statistics Institute (INE) of Paraguay, with technical support from OPHI.
This report is based on the national Permanent Survey of Households, ‘la Encuesta Permanente de Hogares (EPH)’, which is updated regularly. The report of the MPI uses data from the fourth quarter of each year from 2017 to 2020 to scrutinize poverty levels and trends. A person is considered multidimensionally poor if they are deprived in 26% of the 15 weighted indicators grouped under the four dimensions: ‘Employment and social security’, ‘Housing and public services’, ‘Health and environment’, and ‘Education’.
Key findings include:
Download the ‘Índice de pobreza multidimensional (IPM) Paraguay 2021’
This report presents the findings of the 2021 Namibian Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) which aims to inform and guide poverty reduction strategies in Namibia. The Namibian MPI was developed as part of a collaboration led by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA), with UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, and OPHI.
This report is based on the Namibian Household Income and Expenditure Survey (NHIES 2015/16). If a person is deprived in 30% of 11 weighted indicators grouped under the three dimensions of ‘Education’, ‘Health’ and ‘Living Standards’, they are considered multidimensionally poor.
Key findings based on 2015/2016 data include:
Download the report Namibia Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report 2021
Post reform India has generated high economic growth, yet progress in income poverty and many other key development outcomes has been modest. This paper primarily examines how inclusive economic growth has been in India between 2005-06 and 2015-16 in reducing multidimensional poverty captured by the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). We employ a constellation of elasticity and semi-elasticity measures to examine vertical, horizontal as well as dimensional inclusiveness of economic growth. Nationally, we estimate that a one percent annual economic growth in India during our study period is associated with an annual reduction in MPI of 1.34 percent. The association of the national growth to state poverty reduction (horizontal inclusiveness) is however not uniform. Some states have been successful in reducing poverty faster than the national average despite slower economic growth between 2005-05 and 2015-16; whereas, other states have been less successful to do so despite faster economic growth during the same period. Our analyses and findings show how these tools may be used in practical applications to measure inclusive growth and inform policy.
This paper is forthcoming in the Research on Economic Inequality, vol. 29.
Download the preprint of ‘Multidimensional poverty and inclusive growth in India: An analysis using growth elasticities and semi-elasticities’
Citation: Seth, S. and Alkire, S. (2021). ‘Multidimensional poverty and inclusive growth in India: An analysis using growth elasticities and semi-elasticities’, OPHI Working Papers 137, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford.
Nearly a billion people living in developing countries still lack access to electricity, which is essential to power modern economies, healthcare and education. More than half of those without power today are children under 18, undermining their opportunity to ready, study or play after sunset. In a quarter of the subnational regions covered by the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), electricity as a basic commodity is absent for two-thirds or more of the population.
‘Interlinkages between multidimensional poverty and electricity: a study using the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)’ extends the analysis of global MPI microdata to explore the interlinkages between deprivation in electricity and other indicators related to health, education and living standards. The analysis identifies the most common simultaneous deprivations that people who are also electricity deprived experience in their everyday lives. It also looks at the relationship between electricity and poverty and economic development, measured using a multidimensional approach. The report identifies the distinctive profile of those who are poor and deprived in electricity, as well as examining a subset of countries to understand improvement in electricity access over time.
The findings of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative’s report show the interlinkages between electricity and multiple indicators of poverty, making the case for universal electrification as a path for more rapid and inclusive economic development.
Download the Interlinkages between Multidimensional Poverty and Electricity report
‘Leaving no one behind’ (LNOB) constitutes one of the core principles underpinning the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy logic approach to identify countries left behind in each dimension of human development and to estimate the extent to which certain countries are left behind in terms of overall human development. Following the current analytical framework for measuring the Human Development Index (HDI), we illustrate our proposal by measuring the degree to which a country was left behind in the years 2000 and 2018. In general, we find that the countries left furthest behind at the beginning of the century were those that most reduced gaps with respect to better performing countries. Nevertheless, we cannot clearly speak of convergence in HDI as there are notable exceptions, such as the Central African Republic, Liberia, Yemen, Haiti, and Venezuela, which despite the improvement in their HDI between 2000 and 2018, worryingly increased their gaps in human development relative to the rest of the world. The illustration highlights the significant advantages of measuring cross-county human development using our fuzzy-based LNOB approach to provide new complementary measures consistent with the United Nations’ moral imperative of leaving no country behind.
Citation: García-Pardo, F., Pérez-Moreno, S. and Bárcena-Martín, E. (2021). ‘Leaving no country behind in human development: A fuzzy approach’, OPHI Working Paper 136, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), University of Oxford.
Job Title: Researcher
Email: Please contact ophi@qeh.ox.ac.uk
Herizo is using remote sensing and GIS techniques to look at key environmental variables that can be associated with the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). He is now working with Sabina Alkire and Dyah Pritadrajati to write a paper on changes in MPI and environmental deprivations in Madagascar.
Herizo completed his DPhil in 2017 at the Oxford Long Term Ecology Lab (OxLEL) Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. To our knowledge, he is the first Malagasy person to be awarded a doctorate degree at the University of Oxford.
He is a conservation practitioner with 18 years’ experience in community-based conservation approach including participatory ecological monitoring in Madagascar.
He won the 2014 Tusk Award for Conservation in Africa, presented by HRH Prince William, and the 2006 Ramsar Crane Bank Award.
DPhil in Conservation Biology, University of Oxford
Postgraduate Diploma in International Wildlife Conservation Practice, University of Oxford DEA (MSc) in Ecology and Development, University of Antananarivo
Water and Forest Engineer degree, Department of Forestry, University of Antananarivo
Biodiversity conservation; conservation impact evaluation; remote sensing, and GIS.
Hudson M., Andrianandrasana H., Lewis R., Gerrie R. and Concannon L. (2018). Unprecedented rates of deforestation in Menabe Antimena: Can we halt this catastrophic damage? Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. www.durrell.org
Waeber, P.O., Ratsimbazafy J.H., Andrianandrasana H., Ralainasolo, F.B., & Nievergelt, C.M. (2018). ‘Hapalemur alaotrensis, a conservation case study from the swamps of Alaotra, Madagascar’, Barnett A.A., Matsuda, I., and Nowak, K. (eds). (2019). Primates in Flooded Habitats; Ecology and Conservation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
GOFC-GOLD (2017). A Sourcebook of Methods and Procedures for Monitoring Essential Biodiversity Variables in Tropical Forests with Remote Sensing. Report version UNCBD COP-13, GOFC-GOLD Land Cover Project Office, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. ISSN: 2542-6729.
Danielsen, F., Jensen, P.M., Burgess, N., Holt, S., Andrianandrasana, H., Sam, R., Brashares, J., Burton, A.C., Rueda, R., Corpuz, N., Massao, J., Young, R., Lewis, R., Sørensen, M., Poulsen, M.K., Alviola, F., Funder, M., Skielboe, T., Fjeldså, J., Hübertz, H., Enghoff, M., Topp-Jørgensen, Elmer J., Ngaga, Y.M., Jensen, A., Indiana, C. (2014). ‘Who needs a degree? A comparison of trends in tropical resources measured by villagers and scientists’, BioScience 64, 3, pp. 236–251.
Ratsimbazafy J.H., Ralainasolo F.B., Rendings A., Contreras J.M., Andrianandrasana H., Mandimbihasina A.R., Nievergelt C.M., Lewis R., & Waeber P.O. (2013). ‘Gone in a puff of smoke? Hapalemur alaotrensis at a great risk of extinction’, Lemur News 17.
Danielsen F., Skutsch M., Burgess N.D., Jensen P.M., Andrianandrasana H., Karky B., Lewis R., Lovett J.C., Massao J., Ngaga Y., Phartiyal P., Poulsen M.K., Singh S.P., Solis S., Sørensen M., Tewari A., Young R. and Zahabu E. (2010). ‘At the heart of REDD+: a role for local people in monitoring forests?’ Conservation Letters 4–2, 158–167. doi 10.1111/j.1755-263X.2010.00159.x
Zinner, D., Wygoda, C., Razafimanantsoa, L., Rasoloarison, R., Andrianandrasana, H., Ganzhorn, J.U. & Toler, F. (2014). ‘Analysis of deforestation patterns in the central Menabe, Madagascar, between 1973 and 2010’. Regional Environmental Change 14, pp. 157–166.
Copsey, A.J., Jones, J.P.G., Andrianandrasana. H., Rajaonarison LH & Fa JE (2009). ‘Burning to fish: local explanations for wetland burning in Lac Alaotra, Madagascar’, Oryx 43, pp. 403–406. doi:10.1017/S0030605308000525
Andrianandrasana, H., Randriamahefasoa, J., Durbin, J., Lewis, R.E., & Ratsimbazafy, J.H. (2005). ‘Participatory ecological monitoring of the Alaotra wetlands in Madagascar’, Biodiversity and Conservation 14, pp. 2757–2774. doi 10.1007/s10531-005-8413-y
Danielsen, F., Burgess, N.D., Balmford, A., Fjeldså, J., Andrianandrasana, H., Becker, C.D., Bennun, L., Brashares, J.S., Jones, J.P.G., Stuart-Hill, G., Topp-Jorgensen, E., Townsend, W.R., Uychiaoco, A.J., Whitten, T. and Yonten, D. (2006) ‘Monitoring matters: evaluating locally-based biodiversity monitoring in developing countries’, Oryx 40, pp. 12–17.
Andrianandrasana, H. (2001). ‘Ecological study of the rarest tortoise Geochelone yniphora (Vaillant, 1885) in Baly Bay Soalala Madagascar’, Dodo 36, p. 92.
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.
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.