Multidimensional Poverty Measure

The Multidimensional Poverty Measure (MPM) seeks to understand poverty beyond monetary deprivations (which remain the focal point of the World Bank’s monitoring of global poverty) by including access to education and basic infrastructure along with the monetary headcount ratio at the $2.15 international poverty line.

The World Bank’s measure takes inspiration and guidance from other prominent global multidimensional measures, particularly the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford University, but includes monetary poverty less than $2.15 per day, the international poverty line at 2017 PPP (Purchasing Power Parity), as one of the dimensions. Under this broader definition of poverty, many more people come into view as poor.

While monetary poverty is strongly correlated with deprivations in other domains, this correlation is far from perfect. The Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report (World Bank, 2024) shows that about 1 in 10 people globally is multidimensionally poor. Deprivations in nonmonetary dimensions like access to schooling and basic infrastructure, compound poverty and perpetuate cycles of inequality. Securing higher living standards for a population becomes more challenging when poverty in all its forms is considered, but it can provide policymakers with a roadmap for and a means of monitoring improvements in welfare.

Explore the latest Multidimensional Poverty (MPM) data  

The October 2024 update presents the 8th edition of the World Bank’s Multidimensional Poverty Measure (MPM), which includes the latest estimates for 110 economies. A full list of 157 countries with the latest and historical MPM data is available below. Major updates to the MPM database happen around spring every year, with the possibility of a smaller update in September some years.

Learn more about the MPM methodology and the latest edition of the database in this brief.

Download the latest data on the multidimensional poverty measure

(available in .pdf and .xlsx).

Download historical MPM data

All historical spells

Last Updated: October 2024

Methodology and Usage

The data for the MPM is derived from harmonized surveys in the World Bank’s Global Monitoring Database. The latest estimates for the world are available for circa 2021, using household survey data collected within a three-year window between 2018 to 2024.

The MPM is composed of six indicators: consumption or income, educational attainment, educational enrollment, drinking water, sanitation, and electricity. These are mapped into three dimensions of well-being: monetary, education, and basic infrastructure services. 

The three MPM dimensions are weighted equally, and within each dimension each indicator is also weighted equally. Individuals are considered multidimensionally deprived if they fall short of the threshold in at least one dimension or in a combination of indicators equivalent in weight to a full dimension. (See Table1). In other words, households will be considered poor if they are deprived in indicators whose weight adds up to 1/3 or more. Because the monetary dimension is measured using only one indicator, anyone who is income poor is automatically also poor under the multidimensional poverty measure.

Table 1. Multidimensional Poverty Measure Indicators and Weights

^{Source: World Bank, 2020}

Summarizing the information on the different deprivations into a single index proves useful in making comparisons across populations and across time. However, any aggregation of indicators into a single index always involves a decision on how each indicator is to be weighted.

Not all countries have current and comparable data on all the above dimensions, making it challenging to construct a multidimensional poverty measure, especially at the global level. More details on the methodology of the MPM are available here.

What does multidimensional poverty look like around the world?

At a global level, the share of the poor is 64 percent higher when education and basic infrastructure are added alongside monetary poverty — from 8.8 percent living below $2.15 per day to 14.5 percent. By comparing the monetary poverty dimension with indicators from other dimensions, it is possible to form a picture of how many multidimensionally poor are not captured by monetary poverty, as well as which indicator deprivations most affect well-being in the different regions (See Table 2). Indeed, almost four out of 10 (39 percent) multidimensionally poor persons are not captured by monetary poverty because they are deprived in nonmonetary dimensions alone.

Table 2. Monetary and Multidimensional Poverty Headcount, by Region and the World, circa 2021

_{Source: Global Monitoring Database, October 2024.} 

_{Note: The multidimensional poverty rate is the share of the population defined as multidimensionally poor. The monetary poverty rate is based on the $2.15 international poverty line. Regional and total estimates are population-weighted averages of survey-year estimates for 110 economies.  Number of economies is the number of economies in each region for which information is available in the window between 2018 and 2024, for a circa 2021 reporting year.}

_{a. Population coverage refers to the population that is covered by a recent survey (in 2020 or later) using the coverage rule described in Section 1.4 of the above What’s New Brief. Regions without sufficient population coverage are shown bolded.}

The Team

The Multidimensional Poverty Measure was created by the Global Poverty Working Group (GPWG), an interdisciplinary technical working group established to improve the quality and frequency of poverty and inequality data, comprising members from the Poverty and Equity Global Practice and the Development Economics Vice Presidency Data Group (DECDG) and Research Group (DECRG).

Citation and Attribution:

When using the Multidimensional Poverty Measure, please cite as: Multidimensional Poverty Measure database (8th edition, circa 2021), World Bank, Washington, DC. 2024. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/brief/multidimensional-poverty-measure

Data Source

The Global Monitoring Database (GMD) is the World Bank’s repository of multitopic income and expenditure household surveys used to monitor global poverty and shared prosperity. The household survey data are typically collected by national statistical offices in each country, and then compiled, processed, and harmonized. The process is coordinated by the Data for Goals (D4G) team and supported by the six regional statistics teams in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice. The Global Poverty & Inequality Data Team (GPID) in the Development Economics Data Group (DECDG) also contributes historical data from before 1990 and recent survey data from the Luxemburg Income Study (LIS). Selected variables have been harmonized to the extent possible such that levels and trends in poverty and other key sociodemographic attributes can be compared across and within countries over time. The GMD’s harmonized microdata are currently used in the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), the World Bank’s Multidimensional Poverty Measure (MPM), the Global Database of Shared Prosperity (GDSP), and Poverty and Shared Prosperity Reports. Additional information on the latest country data can be found in Castaneda et al., 2024.

Last Updated: October 2024

Contacts

Database and Methodology:

Data for Goals (D4G) at data4goals@worldbank.org

Media inquiries:

Paul Clare, Senior External Communications Officer at pclare@worldbank.org