Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing ... - OPHI

Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing CountriesAlkire & SantosFigure 8: Composition of MPI by H and AMultidimensionalHeadcount(H)0.64AverageDeprivation Share(A)0.64MultidimensionalPoverty Index(MPI)0.360.620.620.340.600.600.32Coted´Ivoire0.580.580.300.560.540.560.540.280.26Republicof CongoCambodia0.520.520.240.500.500.220.480.480.200.460.460.18Figure 9 below provides a synthetic categorization of the countries according to their levels of Hand A. For a clearer picture, countries are colored according to the region of the world they belongto. In a bird´s eye look we can see that most Central and Eastern Europe and CIS countries have acombination of a very low headcount (below 2.5 percent) and an average deprivation share nohigher than 50 percent and usually lower than 45 percent. The Arab States, with the importantexceptions of Somalia and Yemen, have low headcounts (between 2.5 and 25 percent) and anaverage deprivation share no higher than 50 percent and most frequently below 45 percent. TheEast Asia and Pacific countries show a great variety, with some in the same categories as most ofCentral and Eastern Europe and CIS, some similar to most of the Arab States, and some alreadymentioned outliers (with high average deprivation share in relation with their headcount). LatinAmerican and Caribbean countries tend to be concentrated in middle-values of both H and A,except for Haiti. Apart from Sri Lanka, which has a relatively low H and A, South Asia countries arein the segment of countries with a headcount between 50 and 75 percent experiencing deprivationsin 50 to 55 percent of the weighted indicators, although as we have mentioned these aggregatefigures hide a huge variation, which is particularly important in large countries. Finally, most Sub-Saharan countries are concentrated in combinations of high H and A.www.ophi.org.uk July 2010 36