Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2022

Context:

According to the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2022, the number of poor people in India fell by about 415 million between 2005-06 and 2019-21.

Key-findings of the 2022 Index:

• About 41.5 crore people exited poverty in India during the 15-year period between 2005-06 and 2019-21, out of which two-third exited in the first 10 years, and one-third in the next five years.
• The incidence of poverty fell from 55.1% in 2005-06 to 16.4% in 2019-21 in the country.
• The deprivations in all 10 MPI indicators saw significant reductions as a result of which the MPI value and incidence of poverty more than halved.
• Improvement in MPI for India has significantly contributed to the decline in poverty in South Asia.
• It is for the first time that it is not the region with the highest number of poor people, at 38.5 crore, compared with 57.9 crore in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• The report doesn’t fully assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty in India as 71% of the data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-2021) relied upon for MPI were collected before the pandemic.
• Bihar is the poorest State in 2015-2016, saw the fastest reduction in MPI value in absolute terms. The incidence of poverty there fell from 77.4% in 2005-2006 to 34.7% in 2019-2021.

Ending Poverty a Challenge:

• India has by far the largest number of poor people worldwide at 22.8 crore, followed by Nigeria at 9.6 crore.
• Two-third of these people live in a household in which at least one person is deprived of nutrition.
• There were also 9.7 crore poor children in India in 2019-2021 
• About 4.2% of the population in the country still live in severe poverty.
• Rural areas account for nearly 90% of poor people.

About Global Multidimensional Poverty Index:

• The report was produced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
• It was first launched in 2010.
• The global MPI constructs a deprivation profile of each household and person through 10 indicators spanning health, education and standard of living and includes both incidence as well as intensity of poverty.
• All indicators are equally weighted within each dimension.
• The global MPI identifies people as multidimensional poor if their deprivation score is 1/3 or higher.