NEW YORK - The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) with estimates for 110 countries was released today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford. The report demonstrates that poverty reduction is achievable. However, the lack of comprehensive data over the COVID-19 pandemic poses challenges in assessing immediate prospects.

The analysis of trends from 2000 to 2022, focused on 81 countries with comparable data over time, reveals that 25 countries successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable.

Despite these encouraging trends, 1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people covered by the global MPI live in acute multidimensional poverty, and the lack of post-pandemic data for most of these countries restricts our understanding of the pandemic's effects on poverty.

This report presents a compact update on the state of multidimensional poverty (henceforth referred to as “poverty”) in the world. It compiles data from 110 developing countries covering 6.1 billion people, accounting for 92 percent of the population in developing countries. It tells an important and persistent story about how prevalent poverty is in the world and provides insights into the lives of poor people, their deprivations and how intense their poverty is—to inform and accelerate efforts to end poverty in all its forms. As still only a few countries have data from after the COVID-19 pandemic, the report urgently calls for updated multidimensional poverty data. And while providing a sobering annual stock take of global poverty, the report also highlights examples of success in every region.

For the full report,visit: https://hdr.undp.org/content/2023-global-multidimensional-poverty-index-mpi#/indicies/MPI