Functions of the IPM-RD

The Dominican Republic is also part of the Global MPI that is calculated every year by OPHI. The Global MPI makes it possible to compare multidimensional poverty across countries. The Dominican Republic is part as well of the IPM-Latin America developed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), with OPH that allows the Dominican Republic to measure its performance along side that of its neighbors. But now the country will have its own National IPM-RD, to analyze the situation in which Dominicans live and to develop more efficient and effective public policies.

The index measures five critical dimensions at the individual level that reveal not only how many people are multidimensionally poor, but also the composition and intensity of their poverty, considering that poverty is not just lack of money. The MPI-DR directly calculates deprivations in Health, Education and Child Care, Livelihood and Labor; Housing and Environment; Digital Gap and Social Relationships. Public primary services such as water, electricity and sanitation are also measured by this innovative index.

Measuring poverty from a multidimensional perspective will make monitoring much easier for authorities which will allow better identification of vulnerable groups and permit better targeting for public policy and interventions.