The 2023 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index presents a concise update on the current state of multidimensional global poverty. The data is compiled from 110 developing nations, covering 6.1 billion individuals and 92 percent of the population of developing countries. The report tells a persistent and important story about the prevalence of poverty around the world.
It also provides insight into the lives and deprivations of the poor, and the intensity of their poverty.
The United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford released the latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index.
Key Findings
- “Incidence of multidimensional poverty (from 55,1% to 16,4%) has decreased.”
- The MPI measures interconnected deprivations of health, education and living standards that directly impact a person’s wellbeing and life.
- In 15 years, 25 countries including India have successfully reduced their global MPI values by half, proving that rapid progress can be achieved. Cambodia, China Congo, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia and Vietnam are among the countries that have achieved this rapid progress.
- According to the report, India saw 415 million people move out of poverty between 2005/2006 and 2019/2021. The incidence fell from 55,1 percent in 2005/2006, to 16,4 per cent in 2019.
- In India, in 2005/2006 there were 645 millions people living in multidimensional poverty. This number decreased to 370 million by 2015/2016, and then 230 million by 2019/2021.
- The report noted that India’s deprivation levels in all areas declined, and that “the poorest groups and states, including children and those in caste groups with disadvantages, made the fastest progress.”
- The report shows that the number of people in India who are multidimensionally poor or deprived in terms of nutrition has decreased from 44.3% in 2005/2006, to 11.8% in 2019/2021. Child mortality also dropped from 4.5 to 1.5 percent.
- The percentage of multidimensionally poor people and those who are deprived in the indicator drinking water fell from 16.4 percent in 2005/2006 to 2.7 percent in 2019/2021.
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- The report also showed that the percentage of multidimensionally poor people and those who are deprived in other ways fell for housing (from 44,9% to 13,6%) and electricity (from 29.9% to 2.1%).
- India was one of the 19 countries that saw its Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which measures global poverty, halve in just a few years – 2005/2006 to 2015/2016 for India.
- India has 230,000,000 poor people. The MDI report states that the population is “vulnerable” and should be taken seriously.
- India’s population of 18.7 percent falls under the UNDP definition of vulnerability.
- The UNDP defines, “Vulnerability — the share of people who are not poor but have deprivations in 20-33.3 percent of all weighted indicators.