Central Idea

NITI Aayog released the report ‘National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023’.
The report highlighted a record 13.5 crore people have moved out of multidimensional poverty in India between 2015-16 and 2019-21.

What is National Multidimensional Poverty Index (NMPI)?

NITI Aayog serves as the nodal ministry for the MPI.
It engages with publishing agencies such as Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
It uses the Alkire-Foster (AF) methodology.
The Baseline Report of MPI is based on the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 4 conducted during 2015-16.

The MPI considers three dimensions: health, education, and standard of living.
It includes indicators such as nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal care, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, bank accounts, and assets.

Decline in Poverty: India has witnessed a substantial decline in multidimensional poverty, with a decrease of 9.89 percentage points from 24.85% in 2015-16 to 14.96% in 2019-21.
Progressiveness in rural areas: Rural areas experienced the fastest decline, from 32.59% to 19.28%, while urban areas saw a reduction from 8.65% to 5.27%.
Regional Progress: UP recorded the largest decline in the number of poor, with 3.43 crore people escaping multidimensional poverty. The states of UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan showed the fastest reduction in the proportion of multidimensional poor.
Path towards SDG Targets: The report indicates that India is on track to achieve SDG Target 1.2, which aims to reduce multidimensional poverty by at least half by 2030.