Multidimensional Deprivation and the Life Cycle: Age-Based Patterns and Trends in the United States

This chapter considers how deprivation profiles vary across the life cycle, introducing a temporal perspective to the analysis of multidimensional deprivation. Examining data from the 2008–2023 American Community Survey reveals U-shaped patterns in both the Multidimensional Deprivation Index (MDI) and headcount ratio values across the lifespan. Specifically, children (ages 0–17) and older adults (65 and older) experience significantly higher values than working-age adults (18–64). However, these broad categories obscure important shifts in the nature and sources of multidimensional deprivation over time. Although economic insecurity, particularly in the form of insufficient income, contributes significantly to the MDI values of all age groups, the contributions of other indicators differ by life stage. For children, deprivation is strongly influenced by parental educational attainment and housing conditions; for working-age adults, by unstable employment and lack of health insurance; and for older adults, by health-related deprivations such as disability. By presenting age-specific dimension- and indicator-level contributions to the MDI and analyzing transitions across life stages, multidimensional deprivation is reframed as a dynamic, age-contingent experience.