Who uses a multidimensional poverty approach?

Multidimensional poverty measures are becoming increasingly popular. Poverty measures created using approaches such as the Alkire-Foster method (developed by OPHI) are attractive for those in charge of developing public policies because different dimensions and indicators can be selected to create specific measures for particular contexts.

Many countries are designing national Multidimensional Poverty Indices (MPIs). Others have implemented national or local MPIs as official poverty measures. Examples of official permanent national MPIs include:

• 2009: Mexico
• 2010: Bhutan
• 2011: Colombia
• 2014: Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam)
• 2015: Chile, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Viet Nam
• 2016: Ecuador, Pakistan, Honduras, Mozambique and Armenia
• 2017: Panama, Dominican Republic, and Nepal
• 2018: Nigeria, Philippines (initial methodology), and Rwanda
• 2019: Guatemala, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Angola (municipal level) and Thailand
• 2020: Seychelles, Maldives, Palestine, Ghana and Angola (national level)
• 2021: Paraguay, Namibia, Malawi, Sri Lanka and India
• 2022: Uganda and Samoa
• 2023: Mauritania, Belize, Sri Lanka and Bhutan

Other governments and international organizations, many of them members of the MPPN, are creating an Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) or have expressed interest in exploring the development of these measures. Today, ministers and senior officials from 60 governments and 20 international agencies are involved.