- According to the Global multidimensional poverty index(MPI) 2018 Report,India has reduced its poverty rate drastically from 55% to 28% in 10 years.India has taken 271 million people out of poverty between 2005-06 and 2015-16.However,India still has 364 million poor in 2015-16,the largest for any country.
- The Global MPI 2018 Report is prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
- The report measures multidimensional poverty index (MPI) which can be broken down to show (a)Who is poor:Poverty rate as a percentage of the population and (b)How they are poor:Intensity as the average share of deprivations that poor people experience.The product of these two is MPI.
- The criterion for someone to be declared as deprived as per MPI are as follows:(a)Education (year of schooling,child enrollment) (b)Health (child mortality,nutrition) and (c)Standard of living (electricity,drinking water, sanitation,flooring,cooking fuel,assets).A person is multidimensionally poor if she/he is deprived in one third or more (means 33% or more) of the weighted indicators (out of the ten indicators).
- The report says that in India,poverty reduction amongst the children, poorest states,Scheduled Tribes,and Muslims was fastest.Although Muslims and STs reduced poverty the most over the 10 years,these two groups still has the highest rates of poverty in 2015-16.
- Further,Bihar was the poorest state in 2015-16,with more than half its population in poverty.The four poorest states are Bihar,Jharkhand,Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.In terms of multidimensional poverty reduction,Jharkhand had the greatest improvement,followed by Arunachal Pradesh,Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Nagaland.
