Leaving No One Behind: Multidimensional Child Poverty in Botswana

Child poverty measurement is vital for informing policies and for improving children’s lives. Nevertheless, efforts to measure (child) poverty remain dominated mainly by monetary approaches, and many countries fail to monitor multidimensional child poverty. Using the 2015/2016 Botswana multi-topic household survey, this study developed a child-centred, individual-level and composite measure that offers nationally relevant and context-specific insights into the magnitude and depth of multidimensional child poverty in Botswana. In particular, it did so through the lens of Leave No One Behind (LNOB) by zooming in on demographic, economic and geographical characteristics that may be associated with greater vulnerability or marginalisation using both descriptive and regression analysis. Results point towards a relatively high incidence and depth of multidimensional child poverty in Botswana. Results show that disabled children, orphans, children living in larger families, families headed by unmarried couples and living in rural areas are more likely to be multidimensionally poor.