London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Profiling poverty beyond income shows where to have the biggest impact in a world in crisis

Profiling poverty beyond income shows where to have the biggest impact in a world in crisis

The new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released recently finds that reducing poverty at scale is possible and unveils new ‘poverty profiles’ that can offer a breakthrough in development efforts to tackle the interlinked aspects of poverty.
This analysis by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford looks beyond income as a measurement of poverty to understand how people experience poverty in different aspects of their daily lives — from access to education and health, to living standards such as housing, drinking water, sanitation and electricity.

The report notably identifies a series of ‘deprivation bundles’ — recurring patterns of poverty — that commonly impact those who live in multidimensional poverty across the world. The data are used to identify the different poverty profiles that are more common in certain places. This is a crucial step in designing strategies that address multiple aspects of poverty at the same time.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis are accounted for, the data shows that 1.2 billion people in 111 developing countries are living in acute multidimensional poverty. This is nearly double the number who are seen as poor when poverty is defined as living on less than $1.90 per day.

“With recession clouds on the horizon and debt gripping some 54 developing countries, we are seeing how tight government budgets are becoming even tighter — it is vital to leverage the power of cutting-edge data and analytics to understand where the biggest difference can be made with increasingly scarce resources,” argued Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator.

“For example, this multidimensional analysis shows us that decarbonization and expanding access to clean energies will advance climate action — and is also critical for nearly 600 million multidimensionally poor people who still lack access to electricity and clean cooking fuel.”

Based on the latest available data, gathered largely before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the report highlights the need to tackle layers of deprivations that often go hand in hand, including:

• More than 50% of poor people (593 million) lack both electricity and clean cooking fuel.

• Almost 40% of poor people (437 million) lack access to both drinking water and sanitation.

• More than 30% of poor people (374 million) are deprived of nutrition, cooking fuel, sanitation and housing at the same time.

The report underscores the importance of understanding these patterns in the search for more effective ways to tackle poverty. “Families in Lao PDR, for example, that don’t have access to cooking fuel are often unable to send their children to school, because the children are busy collecting firewood every day.

“So, it might not be enough to build a village school unless the fuel problem is also fixed,” said Tasneem Mirza, one of the report’s authors from the Human Development Report Office at UNDP.

The report showcases success stories from across the world that used integrated poverty reduction strategies. Nepal’s investment in sanitation has improved access to drinking water, child nutrition and child mortality through a reduction in diarrhea. In India, some 415 million people left multidimensional poverty in a 15-year period — a historic change.

Before the pandemic hit, 72 countries had significantly reduced poverty. Yet the report anticipates that some of the efforts to end poverty in line with Sustainable Development Goals are likely to have been derailed as a result of recent overlapping crises.

Identifying poverty profiles relies on a solid evidence base of data on poverty in all its dimensions and the report stresses the need to resume efforts to regularly update poverty data, especially in the poorest countries and in the places where the poorest people live.

“The MPI is a vital complement to monetary measures of poverty because it illuminates deprivation bundles directly,” said Sabina Alkire, director of OPHI at the University of Oxford. “Our hope is that this year’s data on deprivation bundles will enable responses to surge ahead with extra determination and laser precision to reduce acute poverty in these turbulent times.”

The MPI also offers an in-depth analysis of poverty across regions. The majority of multidimensionally poor people (83%) live in Sub-Saharan Africa (nearly 579 million) and South Asia (385 million).

Two-thirds of poor people live in middle-income countries, and 83% in rural areas. And despite its impressive pre pandemic progress, India was still home to 229 million poor people. Nigeria had the next highest number, with 97 million poor people.

“This MPI will be vital to inform UNDP’s efforts across the globe as we work with our partners from the United Nations and beyond to reach our bold objective of helping lift 100 million people out of multidimensional poverty by the year 2025,” said Steiner.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×