Poverty and Inequality in the Non-Income Multidimensional Space: A Critical Review in the Arab States

Abstract

Oxford University’s Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) recently developed a multidimensional poverty index (MPI), a composite measure from micro surveys with a set of indicators that has overlapping areas with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A household is identified as being multidimensionally poor if, and only if, it is deprived in some combination of 10 indicators (also called dimensions and denoted by d) whose weighted sum exceeds a cut-off k=3 or 30 per cent of deprivations. The dimensions cover three equally weighted areas, namely: health (child mortality and malnourishment), education (less than five years of schooling, and school-aged children out of school in years 1 to 8) and standard of living (no electricity, no improved drinking water, no improved sanitation, dirt/sand/dung flooring, wood/charcoal/dung cooking fuel, and poor assets).