Measuring Multidimensional Poverty. A Global Assessment of Data Availability and Data Gaps
Mon, 7 November, 2022
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Timely and disaggregated data are essential for effective policy-making, and achieving the ambitious goals outlined in Agenda 2030. To this date, over 30 countries launched national Multidimensional Poverty Indices (MPIs) to monitor SDG 1.2.2 and eradicate poverty in all its forms. In addition, figures on acute multidimensional poverty in over 100 developing countries are published regularly using the internationally comparable global Multidimensional Poverty Index. But there is a need to measure less acute forms of poverty, as well as to cover high income countries.
While advancements have been made on using administrative or census data for measuring multidimensional poverty, most national MPIs and the global MPI relies on household survey data for a comprehensive and timely assessment of poverty, and its changes over time. This presentation reviews the current data landscape with a focus on national and cross-national multi-topic household surveys that might be used to develop a genuinely global multidimensional index covering less acute forms of poverty. It presents a comprehensive and detailed overview of the available resources and identifies important gaps in existing survey data. In addition, the presentation assess the feasibility of a new global moderate multidimensional poverty index with expanded indicator coverage and the inclusion of developed countries, while retaining frequent updates and sub-national dis-aggregation. The presentation proposes multiple options for a global ‘moderate MPI’ and evaluates each according to a set of common criteria. It also proposes a set of measures that could be developed exclusively for high-income countries. Last, the presentation will propose a set of recommendations for improving the availability and coverage of nationally representative household survey data – an essential resource for measuring poverty in all its dimensions, and achieving the overall goal of no poverty.
Speaker:
Fanni Kovesdi (Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, Department of International Development, University of Oxford)
Since joining the OPHI in 2018, she has worked on the global Multidimensional Poverty Index and Changes over Time projects, harmonizing global MPI data to analyze trends in poverty for 80 countries. Prior to joining OPHI, she worked on an ESRC-funded research project on dual career couple trajectories and has completed internships at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Child Hub for Southeast Europe. Kovesdi received her Bachelors of Science in Politics and Sociology from the University of Bristol and her Masters of Science in Sociology from the University of Oxford. Her primary research interests are inequality, poverty, wellbeing, social identities, and migration.
Discussant:
Dean Jolliffe (Lead Economist in the Development Data Group, World Bank)
A Lead Economist at the World Bank and was previously co-director of the 2021 World Development Report on Data for Better Lives. He’s a member of the Global Poverty & Inequality team and the Living Standards and Measurement Study team. Dean currently holds appointments at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, the Institute for the Study of Labor, and the Global Labor Organization. He received his PhD in Economics from Princeton University.
About The series:
The Institute for International Economic Policy (IIEP) at George Washington University and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), with the support of the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report office (UNDP HDRO), are pleased to host a special seminar series on the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (global MPI). Goal 1 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to end poverty in all its forms and dimensions. The global MPI offers a tool to make progress towards this goal.
Bringing together the academic and policy spheres, this series of seminars will highlight topics such as race, ethnicity, gender, and caste, the statistical capacity of nations, social protection, the use of geospatial mapping in tracking poverty, poverty and refugees, and evaluating whether we’re on track to meet UN SDG Goal #1. The sessions will also include work that applies the global MPI methodology, the Alkire Foster method, to innovative measures.
The seminars are taking place online on Mondays at 11 a.m. ET. They are open to everyone focused on improving the lived experience of those who are deprived.