Nutrition, multidimensional poverty and income: The case of Nepal

Abstract

This study aims to assess the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) of farm households in Nepal and investigate the influence of various forms of livelihood capital on their income. The calculation of MPI incorporates the nutrition dimension along with health, education, and living standards using the Alkire‐Foster method. The results show that farm households in Nepal face severe multidimensional poverty (MPI = 0.433, using poverty cut‐off criterion = 0.3). The incidence of income poverty for Nepali farm households is around 20%, which indicates that income‐based poverty may mask the true poverty of farm households in Nepal.

Perceptions of poverty: Evaluating Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool derived rankings and global development indicators in five African nations

“…Poverty indicators, although highly useful for standardized assessments and comparisons, often present a significant drawback in that they tend to (over)simplify the complexity of poverty. Existing research demonstrates that poverty manifests itself in multiple dimensions and measuring poverty using more than one or two indicators provides more accurate results (Yang & Paudel, 2023). While there is a general consensus that poverty and wellbeing are multidimensional and that deprivations and achievements go beyond income (Alkire, 2007; Barrett, 2005; Bourguignon & Chakravarty, 2003; Sen, 1985), there remains debate as to whether various dimensions of poverty can be, or should be, aggregated into a single, multidimensional index in a meaningful way (Cohen, 2009; Lustig, 2011).…”