According to the NITI Aayog discussion paper, as many as 24.82 crore people moved out of multidimensional poverty in nine years to 2022-23. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh registered the largest decline.
Key points
- Multidimensional poverty in India declined from 29.17% in 2013-14 to 11.28% in 2022-23, with about 24.82 crore people moving out of this bracket during this period.
- At the State level, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 5.94 crore people escaping poverty followed by Bihar at 3.77 crore and Madhya Pradesh at 2.30 crore.
National multidimensional poverty (NMPI)
- The national multidimensional poverty (NMPI) measures simultaneous deprivations across 3 equally weighted dimensions of health, education, and standard of living that are represented by 12 sustainable development goals-aligned indicators.
- These indicators include nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets, and bank accounts.
Alkire Foster methodology
- The National Multidimensional Poverty Index (N-MPI) by Niti Aayog uses the Alkire Foster methodology to assess the decline in poverty rates.
- However, the National MPI covers 12 indicators while global MPI covers 10 indicators. The Alkire-Foster (AF) method, developed by Sabina Alkire and James Foster at OPHI, is a flexible technique for measuring poverty or wellbeing.
- The paper also said India is likely to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1.2 (reducing multidimensional poverty by at least half) much ahead of 2030.
- The recent National MPI was based on National Family Health Surveys 4 (2015-16) and 5 (2019-21).
