NITI Aayog published its report on India’s “Multidimensional Poverty Index” (MPI) recently.

Key Points

• Report was prepared on the basis of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for 2015-16.
• As per NITI Aayog’s report, in year 2015-16, one in every four people in India was multidimensionally poor. It accounts that, 25.01 per cent of the population was multidimensionally poor.

How MPI was measured?

India’s national MPI was prepared using globally accepted and robust methodology developed by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI). The index was prepared with the aim of leveraging the monitoring mechanism and methodology of MPI in order to rigorously benchmark national and sub-national performance.

MPI of India for 2021

• MPI for 2021, Launched by UNDP and OPHI, showed that 27.9 per cent of India’s population were multidimensionally poor.
• Bihar has been ranked as the poorest state in the country in the Multidimensional Poverty Index, 2021 released by NITI Aayog.
• India was ranked at 62nd position out of 109 nations on the index.
• Index was prepared on the basis of 10 indicators like adequate nutrition, lack of improved drinking water, or at least six years of schooling.
• The report considered a person spending less than Rs 47 per day in cities and spending less than Rs 32 per day in villages as poor. However, this approach of measuring MPI was abandoned by NITI Aayog.