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An estimated 1.1 billion people live in multidimensional poverty worldwide.
This is contained in a publication of the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative on the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, released on Thursday.
The publication was in commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
Classified as multi-dimensionally poor are those experiencing intense deprivations in health, education and standard of living, with a total of 112 countries and 6.3 billion people surveyed.
An estimated total of 584 million, which is over half of the 1.1 billion poor people, are children under the age of 18.
Large proportions of the 1.1 billion poor people lack adequate sanitation, housing, and cooking fuel, and have at least one person in their household who is undernourished.
In South Asia, 272 million poor people are discovered to live in households with at least one undernourished person, while in Sub-Saharan Africa, 256 million do.
Countries including Benin, Cambodia, Comoros, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Kenya, Mozambique, the Philippines, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Trinidad and Tobago are discovered to have experienced significant reductions in their MPI value and incidence of poverty within the past three years.
According to the UNDP report, 40 per cent of the 1.1 billion extremely poor people live in countries experiencing war, conflict and fragility whereas almost half a billion live in countries exposed to violent conflict.
Violent conflicts in some countries continue to frustrate efforts and policies of the government to tackle poverty.
In the report, the poverty data per country is matched to the country’s conflict/fragility status, though some countries were discovered to underestimate multidimensional poverty.
The report further read, “Our new research shows that of the 1.1 billion people living in multidimensional poverty, almost half a billion live in countries exposed to violent conflict. We must accelerate action to support them. We need resources and access to specialised development and early recovery interventions to help break the cycle of poverty and crisis.
“Countries at war have higher deprivations across all ten indicators of multidimensional poverty, underscoring the devastating impact of conflict on the world’s most vulnerable populations.
“For instance, in conflict-affected countries, over one in four poor people lacks access to electricity, compared to just over one in 20 in more stable regions.
“Similar disparities are evident in areas such as child education (17.7 per cent vs. 4.4 per cent), nutrition (20.8 per cent vs. 7.2 per cent), and child mortality (8 per cent vs. 1.1 per cent).
“The analysis finds that deprivations are markedly more severe in nutrition, access to electricity, and access to water and sanitation for the poor in conflict settings relative to the poor in more peaceful settings.
“Poverty reduction tends to be the slowest in countries most affected by conflict – where poverty is often the highest.
“The report includes an in-depth case study on Afghanistan, where 5.3 million more people fell into multidimensional poverty during the turbulent period 2015/16–2022/23. Data are available now to examine Afghanistan’s post-conflict situation and the results are alarming. In 2022/23, nearly two-thirds of Afghans were poor (64.9 per cent).
“Using the global MPI, we find that out of the 6.3 billion people living in 112 countries, 1.1 billion are poor. And 455 million poor people live in countries experiencing conflict, fragility and/or low peacefulness.
“So, poverty is not their only struggle. Moreover, the level of poverty in conflict-affected areas is far higher. In countries at war, over one in three people are poor (34.8 per cent) whereas in non-conflict-affected countries it’s one in nine (10.9 per cent) according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.
“And sadly, poverty reduction is slower in conflict settings – so the poor in conflict settings are being left behind. These numbers compel a response: we cannot end poverty without investing in peace.”
