The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index for 2019 stated that between 2007 and 2017, Nigerians “multidimensionally poor” rose from 86 million to 98 million.
The report published by the United Nations Development Program and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative in New York on Thursday stated that the percentage of individuals who are “multi-dimensionally poor” has remained constant at just over 50% over the past decade to 2017.
It explained that at global, regional, national, sub-national and even household level inequalities were highlighted by the global MPI.
According to MPI result this year, Over two-thirds of the multi-dimensionally poor – 886 million people – live in middle-income countries, while another 440 million live in low-income countries.
In both groups, Data shows that simple national averages can conceal huge inequalities in poverty trends within countries
For example, the report said in Nigeria, even though the national average showed that around 50 percent of Nigerians were multi-dimensionally poor, it would reveal a completely different scenario at the state and local government levels.
It said, “In Nigeria, while the proportion of people who are multi-dimensionally poor has remained constant at just over 50% over the past decade (up to 2017), the actual number of people who are multi-dimensionally poor has increased from 86 million to 98 million over the same period.
“Also, important to note is that when compared to the national poverty line which measures income/consumption, a larger proportion of Nigerians (51 per cent) are multi-dimensionally poor than those that are income poor (46 per cent).”
According to the UNDP, the MPI is the result of incidence and intensity multidimensional poverty, both of which are significant aspects, noting that any decrease in intensity decreases MPI even if the incidence stays unchanged and represents progress towards moving people out of poverty.
Furthermore, the research said the poorest nations exhibited not only higher incidence of multidimensional poverty, but also a higher intensity, with each poor person being deprived of more indicators.
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