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Where do the World's Multidimensionally Poor People Live?

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  • Sabina Alkire
  • Jose Manuel Roche
  • Andy Sumner

Abstract

This paper asks where do the world's multidimensionally poor people live? The paper considers how the global distribution of multidimensional poverty differs from the global distribution of income poverty and assesses the sensitivity of findings to widely used (although somewhat arbitrary) country classifications. Surprisingly perhaps, only a quarter of multidimensionally poor people and just one-third of severely multidimensionally poor people live in the world's poorest countries - meaning Low Income Countries (LICs) or Least Developed Countries (LDCs). The sensitivity of findings about country thresholds for low and middle-income countries is discussed. The paper argues that there is a split of distribution poverty between both stable Middle Income Countries (MICs) and low-income fragile states, and that there is a 'multidimensional bottom billion' living in stable MICs. The analysis is based on 83 countries, and uses the 2011 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) poverty estimates of the UNDP Human Development Report.

Suggested Citation

  • Sabina Alkire & Jose Manuel Roche & Andy Sumner, 2013. "Where do the World's Multidimensionally Poor People Live?," OPHI Working Papers 61, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    • Handle: RePEc:qeh:ophiwp:ophiwp061
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Stephen Klasen, 2000. "Measuring Poverty And Deprivation In South Africa," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 46(1), pages 33-58, March.
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    5. Sabina Alkire & James Foster & Maria Santos, 2011. "Where did identification go?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(3), pages 501-505, September.
    6. Sabina Alkire, 2011. "Multidimensional Poverty and its Discontents," OPHI Working Papers 46, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    7. Andy Sumner, 2010. "Global Poverty and the New Bottom Billion: What if Three-quarters of the World’s Poor Live in Middle-income Countries?," Working Papers 74, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
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    9. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
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    11. Gustav Ranis & Frances Stewart, 2012. "Success and Failure in Human Development, 1970--2007," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 167-195, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Francesco Farina, 2015. "Development theory and poverty. A review," Working Papers 46-2015, Macerata University, Department of Studies on Economic Development (DiSSE), revised Jan 2015.
    3. Francesco Farina, 2016. "The Path Dependency of Poverty Reduction Policies," HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT AND POLICY, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(1), pages 21-42.
    4. M. Hussain, 2016. "EU Country Rankings’ Sensitivity to the Choice of Welfare Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(1), pages 1-17, January.
    5. Wulung Hanandita & Gindo Tampubolon, 2016. "Multidimensional Poverty in Indonesia: Trend Over the Last Decade (2003–2013)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 559-587, September.
    6. Rogelio Madrueño-Aguilar, 2017. "Global Income Distribution and the Middle-Income Strata: Implications for the World Development Taxonomy Debate," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(1), pages 1-18, January.
    7. Fu, Rao & Jin, Gui & Chen, Jinyue & Ye, Yuyao, 2021. "The effects of poverty alleviation investment on carbon emissions in China based on the multiregional input–output model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    8. Mónica Ramos-Mejía & Alejandro Balanzo, 2018. "What It Takes to Lead Sustainability Transitions from the Bottom-Up: Strategic Interactions of Grassroots Ecopreneurs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-20, July.

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