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Water insecurity is a global concern likely to be compounded by increases in population and climate change. Existing water insecurity measurement methods capture multidimensional deprivation only at regional or sub-regional levels. Such estimates do not capture heterogeneous household experiences of water supply, proximity to water sources and affordability, which can vary substantially from regional averages. Accurate measurement requires a method that captures the incidence and intensity of a household’s simultaneous deprivation in dimensions of water accessibility, affordability, sufficiency and safety. We propose such a method and assess related inequalities using an approach analogous to the Alkire–Foster methodology for multidimensional poverty. Using household-level data from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey 2015/16, we find that 63% of the Kenyan population experience multiple deprivation in water access. The dimensions of water affordability and sufficiency contribute most to multidimensional water insecurity, highlighting the need to ensure an adequate supply of affordable water. Disparities by household place of residence, dwelling type, and socio-economic status are evident. The estimates of multidimensional water insecurity are robust to different deprivation and poverty cutoffs. Our analysis is an invitation to rethink water insecurity metrics, allowing water deprivation to be measured more frequently and with greater precision to understand its impact clearly.

Child poverty has recently been deemed a crucial component of poverty by development economists and policymakers. The global multidimensional poverty estimates indicate, in India, more than one-third of the under-five children experience multidimensional poverty. Using the recent Demographic and Health Survey data of India, 2019-21, Alkire-Foster’s methodology was applied to estimate and decompose multidimensional poverty among children aged 0–59 months across its six regions. Based on child-specific SDG targets 15 indicators were selected covering five broad dimensions for constructing the multidimensional child poverty index (MCPI or M 0 ). It is observed that the deprivation rates across the indicators varies widely across the regions. In terms of both headcount ratio (H) and M 0 , Eastern (H = 49.4, M 0  = 0.222), Central (H = 44.2, M 0  = 0.19), and North-eastern (H = 43.9, M 0  = 0.184) regions have remarkably higher values, and the Southern region (H = 11.2, M 0  = 0.042) have exceptionally lower values. At the national level, poor children were more deprived in the dimensions of standard of living and Early Childhood Development. Except for Western and Southern regions, all regions show a similar pattern. Unavailability of TV/Radio, not being vaccinated in time, inadequate sanitation, unclean cooking fuel and subpar housing condition are the leading contributors to M 0 of all regions with varying magnitude and order. The contribution of drinking water, electricity and assisted delivery is remarkably lower in all the six regions. The findings imply that in order to eliminate multidimensional child poverty and safeguard children’s rights, social policy must be developed with an emphasis on the age, region, dimensions and indicators of MCP.

We study to what extent some functional form assumption on the Lorenz curve are amenable to calculating headcount poverty, or poverty threshold, the key concept to determine a poverty index. The difficulties in calculating it have been underestimated. We must choose some functional forms for the Lorenz concentration curve. We examine three families of one-parameter functional forms to estimate Lorenz curves: power (elementary and Pareto), exponential (elementary and Gupta) and fractional (Rohde). Computing these numerical functions may be difficult and impose some restrictions on their domain of definition, may impose to use some numerical approximation methods. The elementary power and exponential forms are not a problem. However, Pareto raises the problem of a restricted domain of definition for its parameters. The exponential form of Gupta leads to a Lambert function that poses multiple problems, including a restricted field of definition. The fractional form of Rohde has also a restricted domain of definition. It is probably time to choose functional forms not only according to their ability to fit the data, but also according to their ability to calculate poverty indices.

The study determines the extent to which pensions contribute to poverty reduction in Ghana. Using a logistic regression model, we determine the probability of a household being poor given pension income and other socio-demographic factors. The findings, based on the most recent (2012/2013) Ghana Living Standard Survey, round six data set, revealed that pensions in Ghana have no significant impact on poverty reduction for both absolute and extreme poverty levels.

The issue of multidimensionality is well established in poverty research, and it is generally recognised that income alone is inadequate as a measure of social inclusion or quality of life (QoL). However, social policy still tends to address the different dimensions of QoL—such as poverty, health, housing and social cohesion—in isolation. This raises the question of the variation across dimensions or groups in the extent of multidimensionality. For instance, are housing or health problems experienced by people with a range of other QoL problems, or do they tend to occur in isolation? Does this differ between social risk groups, such as lone parents, older adults or children? The answers have implications for the service needs of people with health problems or with inadequate housing. We address these issues in this paper, analysing the 2013 quality of life module on the EU-SILC data for Ireland and adapting the adjusted headcount ratio methodology of Alkire and Foster to address the issue of multidimensionality.

This paper investigates the impact of six governance indicators published by the World Bank on multidimensional poverty, poverty headcount ratio, intensity of poverty, vulnerability to poverty, severity of poverty, as well as inequality among the poor. Unlike previous studies, this study first considered non-monetary measures of poverty which captures various dimensions of deprivations experienced by poor people. Secondly, the paper examines the impact of different components of governance successively on six different measures of poverty. Unbalance panel data covering 43 countries in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) is analysed using Fixed Effect within and Random Effect GLS estimators. The most appropriate method between the two is chosen using the Hausman specification test. The findings reveal that voice and accountability is the most influential political institutional factor in reducing poverty in Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). It is also revealed that government effectiveness is influential in reducing the intensity and severity of poverty, while the rule of law is significant in reducing inequality among the poor and improvement in regulatory quality is equally important in reducing the severity of poverty. Therefore, it is recommended that political reform should focus on making governance more participatory with sufficient freedom for the majority of the people. It is also important to improve the quality of public service to enhance government effectiveness, while judicial reforms that will augment adherence to the laws of the land should be undertaken across the SSA sub-region.

It is often argued that indicators of achievement or deprivation should be measured such that they display a property of 'level-sensitivity', whereby a given change in the indicator acquires a greater significance the higher (lower) the level of achievement (deprivation) at which the change occurs. In this note, it is shown that a level-sensitive headcount ratio of poverty can be derived from an application of the very useful graphical device called 'a deprivation profile' advanced by Anthony Shorrocks (in: Jenkins et al. (eds.) \"The Distribution of Welfare and Household Production: International Perspectives,\" 1996).

This book contributes to the debate about the role of agriculture in poverty reduction by addressing three sets of questions:Does investing in agriculture enhance/harm overall economic growth, and if so, under what conditions? Do poor people tend to participate more/less in growth in agriculture than in growth in other sectors, and if so, when? If a focus on agriculture would tend to yield larger participation by the poor, but slower overall growth, which strategy would tend to have the largest payoff in terms of poverty reduction, and under which conditions?.

The number of older adults in the USA is growing rapidly and by 2030 Americans aged 65 years or older will account for roughly 20% of the total population. We estimate multidimensional deprivation among the elderly in the US Deprivation is measured in four distinct dimensions of well-being: health condition, standard of living, education and economic security measured by housing costs. Three different indices are estimated to analyze the joint impact of deprivation in these dimensions on older adults’ overall welfare. The study uses the American Community Survey which is the largest nationally representative household survey in the USA. Results show that, around 38% of the elderly were deprived in at least one dimension, 12% in at least two dimensions. Deprivation prevalence was higher among Asians and Blacks and especially among the Hispanic. Older Hispanic adults were predominantly deprived in education and income. The study argues that measuring disparity in overlapping dimensions will be useful to design effective policies in the future.