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Identifying the Poorest People and Groups: Strategies Using the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index

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  • Meera Tiwari
  • Sabina Alkire
  • Jose Manuel Roche
  • Suman Seth
  • Andrew Sumner

Abstract

If development is about poverty reduction, then where the poorest live is an important question. This paper seeks to answer this question using an internationally comparable multidimensional poverty index (MPI) to identify the poor using household surveys across more than a hundred countries. We compare three criteria to identifying the bottom billion: (i) the billion living in the poorest countries; (ii) the billion living in the poorest subnational regions and (iii) the poorest billion according to the intensity of their deprivations. Although there are commonalities across the results based on these three criteria, they produce notably different findings that are relevant to the discussions of sustainable development goals.

Suggested Citation

  • Meera Tiwari & Sabina Alkire & Jose Manuel Roche & Suman Seth & Andrew Sumner, 2015. "Identifying the Poorest People and Groups: Strategies Using the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 362-387, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:27:y:2015:i:3:p:362-387
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    1. Sabina Alkire & Andy Sumner, 2013. "Multidimensional Poverty and the Post-2015 MDGs," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 56(1), pages 46-51, March.
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    8. Sabina Alkire, Maria Emma Santos, 2010. "Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries," OPHI Working Papers 38, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
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    10. Geof Wood & Meera Tiwari & Ravi Kanbur & Andy Sumner, 2012. "Poor Countries Or Poor People? Development Assistance And The New Geography Of Global Poverty," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(6), pages 686-695, August.
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    1. Sabina Alkire & Suman Seth, 2015. "Identifying destitution through linked subsets of multidimensionally poor: An ordinal approach," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2015-151, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    2. Baland,Jean-Marie & Cassan,Guilhem & Decerf,Benoit Marie A, 2022. "Integrating Mortality into Poverty Measurement through the Poverty Adjusted Life Expectancy Index," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10133, The World Bank.
    3. Jean-Marie Baland & Guilhem Cassan & Benoit Decerf, 2021. "The Poverty-Adjusted Life Expectancy index: a consistent aggregation of the quantity and the quality of life," DeFiPP Working Papers 2101, University of Namur, Development Finance and Public Policies.
    4. Xinhua Qi & Shilin Ye & Yecheng Xu & Jing Chen, 2022. "Uneven dynamics and regional disparity of multidimensional poverty in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 169-189, January.
    5. Bhatt, Punita & Ahmad, Ali J. & Roomi, Muhammad Azam, 2016. "Social innovation with open source software: User engagement and development challenges in India," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 52, pages 28-39.
    6. Hoy Chris & Sumner Andy, 2016. "Global Poverty and Inequality: Is There New Capacity for Redistribution in Developing Countries?," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 117-157, June.
    7. Gibrán Cruz‐Martínez, 2019. "Older‐Age Social Pensions and Poverty: Revisiting Assumptions on Targeting and Universalism," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1-2), pages 31-56, July.
    8. Guo, Junping & Qu, Song, 2021. "Multidimensional and Relative Poverty in Rural China: Evidence from Micro-Level Data of 6145 Households," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315040, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    9. Khaufelo Raymond Lekobane, 2022. "Leaving No One Behind: An Individual-Level Approach to Measuring Multidimensional Poverty in Botswana," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 162(1), pages 179-208, July.
    10. Sabina Alkire and Suman Seth, 2016. "Identifying Destitution through Linked Subsets of Multidimensionally Poor: An Ordinal Approach," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp099.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    11. Keming Huang & Fangzhou Xia, 2023. "Classification of Rural Relative Poverty Groups and Measurement of the Influence of Land Elements: A Questionnaire-Based Analysis of 23 Poor Counties in China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-23, April.
    12. Guo, Junping & Qu, Song & Zhu, Tiehui, 2022. "Estimating China’s relative and multidimensional Poverty: Evidence from micro-level data of 6145 rural households," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    13. Cruz-Martinez, Gibran, 2019. "Older‐Age Social Pensions and Poverty: Revisiting Assumptions on Targeting and Universalism," SocArXiv y9uk6, Center for Open Science.
    14. Yadira Diaz, 2015. "Differences in needs and multidimensional deprivation measurement," Working Papers 387, ECINEQ, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality.

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