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"POVERTY INDICATORS"
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Will South Asia Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030? Learning from the MDGs Experience
This paper contributes to the debate on the Sustainable Development Goals progress by evaluating the MDGs achievements in South Asia and the policy and institutional challenges deriving from such experience. Using cross-country regressions and aggregate indicators of poverty, health, education and gender parity outcomes, we offer three sets of findings. First, comparative evidence shows that, while South Asia has converged with richer regions, there is still significant variation in gender equality, universal primary education, and income poverty achievements across countries. Second, projections based on past trends on where SDGs are expected to be by 2030 reveal that there is a long way to go, where emblematic targets as income poverty eradication may not be met in the populous South Asian countries. Finally, considering the expanded set of development targets in the SDGs and the growth slowdown in South Asia, we argue that further progress would simultaneously require increased public spending on health and education and reforms improving state capacity. A simulation exercise confirms that such a combination of interventions would deliver significant benefits in the region, particularly in areas that are critical to progress on the goals of ‘No Poverty’, ‘Quality Education’, ‘Gender Equality’, and ‘Inclusive Growth’.
Journal Article
Energy Poverty and Its Indicators: A Multidimensional Framework from Literature
People aim for thermal comfort inside their homes. However, this is not achievable for everyone due to several factors, such as low income, poor building envelope, expensive technology, and increased energy costs, thus leading to energy poverty. This work gathers studies regarding energy poverty and its indicators, identified by different authors and considering different regions, techno-economic, governmental, and political considerations. It was observed that renewable energy sources are a good investment in the long term but require a high initial investment. Government policy measures should be applied to mitigate the costs, especially given the increasing requirement for clean energy use in new buildings. There are still many barriers to overcoming energy poverty, and the variables for action are numerous. The best solution passes through the assessment of adequate technological solutions with economic incentives from the government for the most vulnerable individuals that should be identified by region and economic power. Energy poverty is a multidimensional problem that depends on individual characteristics such as households’ income, specific energy needs, and available technologies, as well as external factors such as energy prices, climatic conditions, and energy access. The majority of energy indicators are directly related to economic aspects, whereas social or environmental considerations are only indirectly accounted for.
Journal Article
Social poverty indicators with school bullying victimization: evidence from the global school-based student health survey (GSHS)
Background
School bullying is prevalent in children and adolescents. Bullying victims are seen higher risk of negative psychological outcomes. Previously published studies suggested that social indicators may pose significant influence on bullying victimization. However, the association between social poverty and bullying victimization has not been exclusively discussed.
Methods
In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed the association between 6 commonly used social poverty indicators (Poverty Headcount Ratio, PHR; Poverty Gap, PG; Squared Poverty Gap, SPG; monthly household per capita income, PCI; Watts’ Poverty Index, WPI; the Gini Index, Gini) and the prevalence of school bullying at country level by using the Global school-based Student Health Survey (GSHS) database.
Results
Altogether 16 countries were included into the final analysis, with school bullying victimization prevalence ranged from 12.9 to 47.5%. Bubble plots revealed statistically significant associations between the three indicators measuring absolute poverty level (PHR, PCI, WPI) and bullying victimization. Subsequently performed principal component regression indicated that, for all types of bullying victimization, the increase of absolute poverty level was related to elevated prevalence rates, and the association was particularly strong for verbal bullying victimization.
Conclusions
Our study results may suggest that absolute social poverty is an important parameter for constructing and implementing school bullying victimization intervention strategies and measures.
Journal Article
Identifying Energy-Poor Households with Publicly Available Information: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned from the Athens Urban Area, Greece
Energy poverty (EP) has emerged as a significant and multifaceted social challenge, both in Europe and globally, in recent years. Given the constraints of limited public resources, it is imperative that policies addressing EP focus on the most socially vulnerable households. To this end, effective policies necessitate a thorough understanding of the key characteristics defining households affected by this phenomenon. This research aims to contribute to the identification of energy-poor households by examining both established and novel EP indicators, utilizing the Athens urban area as a case study. The study employs the official EP indicator utilized in Greece, alongside three newly developed indicators. These indicators constitute essential components in the formulation of multivariate binary logistic regression models. The models incorporate predictors derived from existing government databases, encompassing household and building characteristics. From a policy perspective, this research introduces novel approaches for addressing EP, as the models and two of the newly introduced indicators demonstrate promising results in identifying energy-poor households. Importantly, this identification can be achieved without the need for primary questionnaire surveys or the compilation of complex information.
Journal Article
Developing a Fuzzy MCDA-Based Multidimensional Index to Measure Energy Poverty in Developing Countries
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the critical need for reliable energy access, underscoring energy poverty as a significant barrier to social well-being and sustainable development. This study develops a comprehensive multidimensional index to assess energy poverty in developing countries using a hybrid approach that integrates fuzzy set theory with Delphi, DEMATEL, and ANP methods. By evaluating 33 indicators across five dimensions—availability, adequacy, affordability, cleanability, and convenience—this study refines the list to 19 key indicators through expert consensus and constructs a cause-and-effect relationship among them. The analysis identifies electricity consumption per capita as the most critical indicator of energy poverty. The index is applied to 119 developing countries, revealing stark disparities, with Chile having the lowest and Chad the highest energy poverty scores. The findings emphasize the need for targeted interventions and policy measures to enhance energy access and reduce socioeconomic inequalities, thereby supporting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7). This study offers a robust framework for policymakers and researchers to address energy poverty effectively in the post-COVID-19 era.
Journal Article
Exploring the Complexity of Energy Poverty in the EU: Measure it, Map it, Take Actions
Energy poverty presents a pressing challenge in the European Union (EU), worsened by recent geopolitical events and economic vulnerabilities, particularly highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis. This article explores the complexity of energy poverty within the EU context, emphasizing the necessity to define, measure, and monitor it comprehensively. It reviews the evolution of energy poverty definitions and causes, underlining the multifaceted nature of the issue influenced by factors such as low-income, high-energy prices, and building inefficiencies. Various measurement indexes are examined, and categorized into consensus, expenditure-income comparison, and direct/indirect measurement indicators, offering insights into their advantages and limitations. Furthermore, the work discusses mapping methodologies to pinpoint instances of energy poverty spatially. It also examines best regulatory practices employed by nations, including economic accessibility enhancements and structural interventions like investments in energy efficiency and renewable sources. Finally, the authors propose a novel approach to map energy poverty at municipal granularity in Italy, integrating economic vulnerability and building energy efficiency indices.
Journal Article
The impact of local cost-of-living differences on relative poverty incidence: an application using retail scanner data and small area estimation models
Estimating economic poverty indicators at the local level is essential for well-targeted data-driven welfare policies. However, Italy is a country characterized by strong geographical heterogeneity represented by unequal price levels among different areas, and computing poverty indicators with a national monetary poverty threshold can be misleading. This work proposes a novel approach to estimate monetary poverty incidence at the provincial level in Italy considering the different price levels within national boundaries. To account for local price variation, Spatial Price Indices (SPIs) are computed using scanner data on retail prices. The SPIs are estimated in two ways, referring to the mean local prices and using the 20th percentile of the prices. These two kinds of SPIs are used to adjust the national poverty line when computing the poverty incidence at the provincial level using Small Area Estimation (SAE) models. Our findings suggest that adjusting the national poverty line using the SPIs to compute a monetary poverty index can modify the poverty mapping results from the map produced with the traditional national poverty line that ignores price differences.
Journal Article
Material Deprivation
Des données exclusives provenant d’un sondage canadien de 2013 sont utilisées dans l’évaluation de la privation matérielle. Cet indicateur de pauvreté basé sur les résultats regroupe 17 biens et services de première nécessité. Si l’on considère que les personnes qui ne peuvent s’offrir deux de ces produits ou davantage sont privées sur le plan matériel, la privation matérielle touche 18,6 pour cent des Canadiens, peut-on constater. De ce groupe, seulement 43 pour cent ont aussi un faible revenu. Parmi les Canadiens ayant un faible revenu, seulement 50 pour cent sont privés sur le plan matériel. Des conditions de vie associées à une situation de pauvreté coïncident donc régulièrement avec un revenu supérieur au seuil de pauvreté, et un faible revenu n’entraîne pas nécessairement la privation matérielle. Les indicateurs de pauvreté basés sur les résultats comme la privation matérielle livrent, par conséquent, de l’information inédite et pertinente nous permettant de comprendre la pauvreté et les politiques propres à y remédier au Canada.
Unique data from a 2013 Canadian survey were used to measure material deprivation. This outcome-based indicator of poverty was constructed of 17 necessities. When persons who cannot afford two or more items are considered materially deprived, material deprivation is found to affect 18.6 percent of Canadians. Of those, only 43 percent also have low income. Of Canadians with low income, only 50 percent are materially deprived. The experience of poverty-level living conditions thus regularly coincides with an income above the poverty threshold, and having low income does not guarantee material deprivation. Outcome-based poverty indicators such as material deprivation therefore offer new and relevant insights into understanding poverty and its policy solutions in Canada.
Journal Article
Implications and Measurement of Energy Poverty across the European Union
Energy poverty, or the inability of households to afford adequate access to energy services, is an issue that can have a significant effect on the quality of life and even the state of health of individuals and even the overall development of a nation. Since it was first brought into focus more than two decades ago in the UK, this topic has gradually gained the attention of academics and policy makers all across the EU and beyond. The current paper addresses the topic by providing not only a renewed discussion, but also an improved energy poverty indicator (with clear and relevant results at the EU level): the Compound Energy Poverty Indicator (CEPI). Moreover, knowing that the risk of poverty and social exclusion, efficiency of heating systems, total consumption of energy per household and rising energy prices tend to increase the severity of this problem in some countries, CEPI is then included into an econometric model so as to determine some possible factors that tend to put pressure on an already existing issue of energy poverty. The results of this research are expected to be relevant not only for academics (as it offers insights into the structure and severity of this topic within the European Union), but also for national and EU policymakers who are confronted in the field with the problem of sustainable development.
Journal Article