Suriname MPI

10 December, 2024

Methods and techniques to determine and combat poverty in Suriname. Multidisciplinary Working Group on Poverty Line Determination 2020-2023 is a report of the Multidisciplinary Working Group on Poverty Line Determination established by the Suriname Ministry of Labor, Employment and Youth Affairs (AWJ) in July 2021. It describes the findings of research on developing a national framework for measuring poverty in Suriname to help guide the Ministries of AWJ and Social Affairs and Housing (SOZAVO) in implementing their social-economic policy programmes.

It includes the findings of a national MPI for households using the 2012 national Census and a national MPI for individuals based on the 2018 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) for Suriname.

Suriname MPI – Census 2012

The MPI of the 2012 Census database consists of four (4) dimensions (Health, Education, Standard of Living and Social-Economic Security) divided into twenty (20) indicators. The Health dimension with two (2) indicators: chronic illness and dysfunctionality; the Education dimension with the indicator: educational level; and the Standard of Living dimension with fourteen (14) indicators including cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water supply, electricity, housing and living conditions, living quarters status, overcrowded living space, garbage collection, transportation, possessions and household appliances and the Social Economic Security dimension with three (3) indicators including employment status, medical supply and dependency ratio. Due to limitations of available data, mortality could not be calculated.

According to this measurement, 16 percent of households identified as multidimensionally poor. Based on the total number of households at the 2012 Census, being about 143,000, the estimated number of poor households equaled about 22,880. The highest incidence occurred in the interior where nearly two-thirds (66%) of households identified as multidimensionally poor. This poverty rate was additionally nine times (9x) higher than that of the urban area, which was equal to 7 percent. The rural area had a headcount ratio of 10 percent. The national average was 16 percent, mainly because of the greater proportion of households (67%) in the urban area.

The indicators that contributed highly to the NMPI were mainly education level, chronic illness, transportation and medical insurance. In the Interior, in addition to education level, chronic illness, transportation, and medical insurance, access to basic services such as drinking water supply, sanitation, electricity, cooking gas, assets, and employment were also found to be high contributors to poverty levels.

Households headed by a woman had a headcount ratio of 26%, which is about twice the poverty level of households headed by a man (11%).

Suriname – MICS 2018

The 2018 MICS data was tested through factor analysis to ascertain if the identified dimensions charge high, paying attention to the variance to be explained. The MPI of the MICS 2018 database consists of four dimensions (Health, Education, Standard of Living and Social Economic Security) divided into eighteen (18) indicators. The first dimension Health with the three (3) indicators: nutrition, infant mortality and dysfunctionality; the second dimension Education with the three (3) indicators: educational level, school attendance and learning disability; the third dimension Standard of Living with the eight (8) indicators: cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water supply, electricity, housing, housing and living conditions, overcrowded living space, assets and household appliances; and the fourth dimension Social Economic Security with four (4) indicators: financial support, medical insurance, security and dependency ratio. For each of these indicators, a standard is set indicating whether a household possesses or lacks the given indicator.

In 2018, the headcount ratio, H, for Suriname was 17.4 percent, the average intensity of poverty was 44.9 percent, and the NMPI had a value of 0.078. This meant that the multidimensional poor in Suriname, assuming the maximum number of deprivations, experienced 7.8 percent of total deprivation.

The percentage of multidimensional poor in the Interior was 50.3 percent, while that of the urban and rural areas was respectively12.6 and 21.3 percent, respectively.

The headcount ratio of men does not differ much from that of women. About16 percent of men and 17 percent of women are categorized as poor.

The higher the level of education, the lower the poverty rate. Multidimensional poverty is most common among persons with no education (39.6%), followed by those with only primary education (24.1%). Multidimensional poverty is lowest among persons with secondary or higher education.