The Spatial Pattern of Deprivations and Inequalities: The Case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Addis Ababa is a metropolitan area faced with the challenges of Ethiopia’s urbanization, such as poverty, unemployment, informal settlements, an acute housing shortage, and environmental hazards. Yet, the non-practicality of area-based policy using the Multiple Deprivation Index (MDI) exacerbates the polarization of poverty and spatial inequality to create a divided city. The study developed the MDI for 2007 and 2016. The study’s objective was to justify the area-based policy by analyzing the overlaps of deprivations based on the relationship of pertinent indicators and components, the spatial pattern of inequality and deprivations, and the relationship of deprivation with population size and density. The findings of the study were triangulated and validated with the deductive theoretical, empirical, and SDG frameworks to replicate external validity. The research design included both descriptive and correlational methods. The inductively derived pattern using PCA (principal component analysis) and LISA (local spatial association index) of MDI components revealed spatial inequality and poverty polarization. The index of concentrated poverty was revealed by global spatial autocorrelation. The statistical and spatial trend analysis revealed concentrated poverty, especially in the inner-city slums and the peri-urban informal settlements. Most of the findings conformed to deductive theoretical and SDG frameworks, while the analysis of MDI indicators and components revealed additional slum indicators and the relevance of integrating other SDG indicators with SDG 11 for realizing sustainable urbanization. Due to spatial inequality, patterns of concentrated poverty, a large, deprived population, and easing future urbanization challenges, the study rationalized area-based policy for reducing inequality and poverty polarization.