Bibek Debroy's Last NDTV Column: Why India Needs A New Poverty Line

(The co-author, Bibek Debroy, passed away on November 1 at the age of 69. This is his last column for NDTV, which he submitted on October 21. His other columns can be found here)

The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is a comprehensive tool developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the UNDP's Human Development Report Office. It was first introduced in 2010 to measure acute multidimensional poverty across over 100 developing countries. The MPI goes beyond income-based poverty measures by assessing deprivation across three key dimensions: health, education, and standard of living. These dimensions are represented through ten specific indicators, such as stunting, underweight, child mortality, years of schooling, and access to basic amenities like clean water and electricity. Each indicator is assigned a weight, with the health and education dimensions receiving 1/6 weight each, and the standard of living indicators collectively weighted at 1/18 each. Individuals are considered multidimensionally poor if they are deprived in at least one-third of the weighted indicators, emphasising the interconnectedness of deprivations.

Methodologically, the MPI computation starts by constructing a deprivation profile for each household based on survey data such as Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys and Demographic and Health Surveys. These profiles track deprivations for every individual in the household. The MPI is calculated as the product of the incidence (H), or the proportion of people who are multidimensionally poor, and the intensity (A), which measures the average share of deprivations experienced by the poor. This approach enables disaggregation of poverty data by region, age group, and other socio-demographic factors, allowing for more precise targeting of interventions.