Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2025 Report

Syllabus: Poverty

Source: UNDP

Context: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) released the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2025 Report titled “Overlapping Hardships: Poverty and Climate Hazards”.

About Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2025 Report:

About MPI 2025 Report:

• What it is?

• The MPI is a global measure of acute poverty that captures multiple deprivations—health, education, and standard of living—beyond income poverty.

• Published by: Jointly produced by the UNDP Human Development Report Office and the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) since 2010.

• Launched in:

• The global MPI was first introduced in the 2010 Human Development Report, covering over 100 developing countries.

• To assess who is poor, how they are poor, and how poverty overlaps with deprivations, thereby guiding evidence-based policymaking aligned with SDG-1 (No Poverty).

Key Trends in the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2025:

• Global Poverty Prevalence: The 2025 MPI covers 109 countries and finds that 1.1 billion people (18.3%) live in acute multidimensional poverty, indicating persistent global deprivation despite post-pandemic recovery efforts.

• Severity of Poverty: Nearly 43.6% of poor people (about 501 million) are in severe poverty, meaning they are deprived in at least half of the MPI indicators, showing the depth of deprivation in vulnerable regions.

• Children Bear the Greatest Burden: Though children constitute only 33.6% of the global population, they represent 51% of all multidimensionally poor, underscoring how child malnutrition and lack of schooling perpetuate intergenerational poverty.

• Middle-Income Countries as Hidden Epicentres: Surprisingly, 740 million poor people—nearly two-thirds of the global poor—reside in middle-income countries, revealing the inadequacy of income-based classifications in capturing real deprivation.

• Regional Concentration of Poverty: Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia together account for 83% of global poverty, with Sub-Saharan Africa alone home to 49.2% of the world’s poor, emphasizing geographical inequality.

• Rural Dominance in Poverty Distribution: A staggering 83.5% of the multidimensionally poor live in rural areas, even though these regions house just 55% of the total population, highlighting infrastructure and service deficits.

• Climate-Poverty Nexus: Nearly 80% of the world’s poor live in areas exposed to at least one climate hazard such as droughts, floods, or extreme heat, creating a “double burden” of deprivation and environmental risk.

• Stagnation in Post-Pandemic Progress: The report notes slowed poverty reduction post-COVID-19, with many countries experiencing stagnant or reversed progress due to inflation, conflict, and climate disruptions

India and the Global MPI 2025:

• Massive Poverty Reduction: India achieved a remarkable decline in multidimensional poverty from 1% (2005–06) to 16.4% (2019–21), lifting over 414 million people out of deprivation, marking one of the fastest reductions globally.

• Child-Centric Poverty: Despite broad progress, child poverty remains severe, particularly in nutrition, sanitation, cooking fuel, and housing, indicating persistent intergenerational deprivation challenges.

• Climate Exposure: Nearly 99% of India’s poor live in climate-vulnerable regions, frequently exposed to heatwaves, floods, and air pollution, linking poverty eradication to environmental sustainability.

• Policy Relevance: India’s MPI success reflects targeted welfare schemes like PM-Awas Yojana, Swachh Bharat Mission, Ujjwala, and Jal Jeevan, which directly address multidimensional deprivations in housing, sanitation, and energy.

Challenges Highlighted:

• Rural–Urban Disparity: More than 83% of the multidimensionally poor reside in rural areas, where gaps in healthcare, education, and infrastructure persist despite rapid urban growth.

• Climate-Induced Vulnerability: The poor face repeated climate shocks such as droughts and floods, undermining livelihoods and reversing development gains in climate-sensitive sectors.

• Data Deficit: Outdated and fragmented household-level data limit effective policy evaluation and hinder real-time monitoring of SDG progress across states.

• Gender and Child Deprivations: Persistent gender inequality and child malnutrition restrict overall human development, with women and children bearing the heaviest poverty burden.

• Limited Fiscal Capacity: Many states struggle with budgetary constraints and limited fiscal autonomy, restricting long-term investments in social protection and climate adaptation.

Policy Reforms and Recommendations

• Integrate Poverty and Climate Policies: Adopt climate-resilient poverty strategies, combining green infrastructure, adaptive welfare, and disaster preparedness for vulnerable communities.

• Localized Data Monitoring: Develop district-level MPI dashboards to enable real-time data collection, evidence-based policymaking, and precise targeting of welfare interventions.

• Invest in Green Livelihoods: Expand eco-jobs in renewable energy, organic farming, and circular economy, linking sustainability with employment generation.

• Global Financial Support: Mobilize climate finance and concessional aid from global platforms to support developing nations managing dual crises of poverty and climate change.

• Child- and Gender-Sensitive Interventions: Strengthen programs focusing on nutrition, clean fuel, education, and maternal health, ensuring inclusive and intergenerational poverty reduction.

Conclusion:

The Global MPI 2025 underscores that poverty today is as much about climate vulnerability as deprivation itself. India’s rapid poverty reduction offers hope, but the rising climate threat demands integrated, climate-resilient poverty policies. Future strategies must link social justice with environmental sustainability, ensuring no one is left behind in a warming world.