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.jpg "The UNDP's Education Component in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)")
The UNDP's Education Component in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), is a crucial measure of acute poverty that goes beyond just income. It captures the severe deprivations people face simultaneously across three dimensions: Health, Education, and Standard of Living.
The MPI's framework is designed to show who is poor and how they are poor, making it an invaluable tool for policymakers aiming to target resources and design effective poverty reduction strategies.
The Education Dimension: Measuring Deprivation
The Education dimension is one of the three equally weighted pillars of the MPI, each contributing one-third (1/3) to the overall index score. It uses two equally weighted indicators to assess a household's educational deprivation: Years of Schooling and School Attendance. Each of these two indicators accounts for one-sixth (1/6) of the total MPI weight.
A person is classified as multidimensionally poor if they are deprived in at least one-third (33.33%) of the weighted MPI indicators. Therefore, a household deprived in both education indicators alone is considered multidimensionally poor, as the combined weight of their deprivation is $1/6 + 1/6 = 2/6 = 1/3$.
Education Indicators and Deprivation Cutoffs
The following table details the two indicators used to measure deprivation in the education dimension of the Global MPI:
| Dimension (Weight: 1/3) | Indicator (Weight: 1/6 each) | Deprived if... (Deprivation Cutoff) | Corresponding SDG Area |
| Education | Years of Schooling | No household member aged 'school entrance age plus six years' or older has completed at least six years of schooling (generally the duration of primary education). | SDG 4: Quality Education |
| School Attendance | Any school-aged child (the age group corresponding to the years of school considered) is not attending school up to the age at which they would complete class eight. | SDG 4: Quality Education |
The Significance of the Education Component
The education dimension highlights the intergenerational aspect of poverty. Deprivation in this area often means that children lack the foundational skills necessary to escape poverty as adults, thus perpetuating the cycle.
Years of Schooling acts as a proxy for the stock of knowledge and human capital within the household. A deprivation here signals a significant long-term lack of basic education for adult household members.
School Attendance measures the current educational opportunity for children. A deprivation here indicates an active loss of future potential and opportunity for the next generation.
By measuring these two distinct, yet related, aspects of education, the MPI provides a more comprehensive view of how educational shortfalls contribute to acute, multidimensional poverty. Targeting these specific deprivations allows governments to craft policies focused on improving both adult literacy and current school enrollment, thereby addressing poverty from both a historical and future-oriented perspective.
.jpg "The Years of Schooling Indicator in the UNDP Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)")
The Years of Schooling Indicator in the UNDP Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), developed in partnership with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), is a critical international measure that moves beyond simple income to understand poverty as acute, simultaneous deprivations in health, education, and standard of living. The MPI measures the percentage of the population that is multidimensionally poor and the intensity of their deprivations.
The MPI is composed of ten indicators grouped into three equally weighted dimensions: Health, Education, and Standard of Living. The "Years of Schooling" indicator is one of the two indicators within the Education dimension, highlighting the essential role of educational attainment in human development and poverty reduction.
The Education Dimension and its Indicators
The Education dimension of the MPI is designed to capture fundamental deprivations related to knowledge and schooling. It is weighted at one-third (1/3) of the overall MPI score, on par with the Health and Standard of Living dimensions.
Within this dimension, there are two equally weighted indicators, each contributing 1/6 of the total MPI weight:
Years of Schooling
School Attendance
The Years of Schooling indicator specifically addresses educational attainment within the household, serving as a proxy for the knowledge and human capital present in the family unit.
Years of Schooling Indicator: Definition and Cutoff
The "Years of Schooling" indicator defines a household as deprived if it fails to meet a specific, internationally comparable standard of educational attainment.
| Indicator | Dimension | Deprivation Cutoff (Criteria for Deprivation) | Indicator Weight |
| Years of Schooling | Education | No household member aged 'school entrance age + six years or older has completed at least six years of schooling. | 1/6 |
Interpretation of the Cutoff:
Completion Standard: The threshold of six years of schooling is typically associated with the completion of primary education in most countries. This reflects a basic, minimum acceptable level of educational achievement necessary to escape acute poverty.
Household Member: The deprivation is assessed at the household level. If at least one household member in the relevant age group has completed six or more years of schooling, the household is not considered deprived in this indicator.
Age-Specific: The cutoff targets the relevant age group, often specified as "school entrance age + six years or older," to ensure that the metric focuses on adults and older children who should have had the opportunity to complete primary schooling.
The Role of Years of Schooling in the MPI
The inclusion of the Years of Schooling indicator underscores several crucial points about multidimensional poverty:
Human Capital: Education is a core component of human capital. A lack of basic schooling severely limits an individual's capabilities, economic opportunities, and ability to participate fully in society, thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
Intergenerational Poverty: Educational attainment in the current generation strongly correlates with the future prospects of children. When adults in the household have very little schooling, it negatively affects the educational and health outcomes of their children.
Policy Relevance: The MPI's breakdown by indicator helps policymakers identify which specific deprivations are most acute and widespread. High deprivation rates in Years of Schooling signal an urgent need for interventions focused on adult literacy, secondary education expansion, and ensuring the quality and accessibility of primary schooling.
A person is counted as multidimensionally poor if they are deprived in at least one-third (33.3%) of the weighted MPI indicators. Since the "Years of Schooling" indicator has a weight of $1/6$ (approximately 16.7%), it means that two deprivations in this dimension (Years of Schooling + School Attendance, $1/6 + 1/6 = 33.3\%$) are sufficient to classify a person as multidimensionally poor, even if they are not deprived in any other dimension.
.jpg "The UNDP School Attendance Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)")
The UNDP School Attendance Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) does not publish a standalone "School Attendance Poverty Index." Instead, School Attendance is a critical component—one of ten indicators—of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which the UNDP co-publishes annually with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
The Global MPI is an international measure of acute multidimensional poverty. It goes beyond traditional income measures to capture the severe, overlapping deprivations a person faces simultaneously in three key dimensions: Health, Education, and Standard of Living.
The School Attendance Indicator
The School Attendance indicator directly measures a fundamental deprivation in a child’s right to education. It is one of two indicators within the Education dimension.
Definition and Weighting
A household (and all individuals within it) is considered deprived in the School Attendance indicator if any school-aged child (typically up to the age at which they would complete class 8) is not attending school.
The three dimensions of the MPI (Health, Education, and Standard of Living) are equally weighted at $1/3$ each. Since the Education dimension has two indicators (Years of Schooling and School Attendance), each indicator is weighted as $1/6$ of the total MPI score.
| Dimension (Weight 1/3) | Indicator | Deprivation Cutoff | Indicator Weight |
| Education | School Attendance | Any school-aged child is not attending school up to the age at which he/she would complete class 8. | $1/6$ |
Overview of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
The MPI uses a "counting approach" to identify the multidimensionally poor, providing a comprehensive picture that informs targeted policy interventions to address specific deprivations like lack of school attendance.
MPI Dimensions and Indicators
The following table summarizes all ten indicators that constitute the Global MPI:
| Dimension (Weight 1/3) | Indicator | Deprived if living in a household where... | Indicator Weight |
| Health | Nutrition | Any person under age 70 for whom there is nutritional information is undernourished. | $1/6$ |
| Child Mortality | A child under age 18 has died in the family in the five-year period preceding the survey. | $1/6$ | |
| Education | Years of Schooling | No eligible household member has completed six years of schooling. | $1/6$ |
| School Attendance | Any school-aged child is not attending school up to the age at which he/she would complete class 8. | $1/6$ | |
| Standard of Living | Cooking Fuel | The household cooks with solid fuel (dung, wood, charcoal, or coal). | $1/18$ |
| Sanitation | The household has unimproved or shared improved sanitation. | $1/18$ | |
| Drinking Water | The household lacks improved drinking water or the water source is a 30-minute or longer walk (roundtrip). | $1/18$ | |
| Electricity | The household has no electricity. | $1/18$ | |
| Housing | The household has inadequate housing materials (floor, roof, or walls). | $1/18$ | |
| Assets | The household does not own more than one of a list of basic assets, and does not own a car or truck. | $1/18$ |
Measuring Poverty
A person is classified as multidimensionally poor if they are deprived in at least one-third ($33.3\%$) of the weighted indicators.
The final MPI score is a product of two key figures:
Headcount Ratio ($H$): The percentage of the population identified as multidimensionally poor.
Intensity of Poverty ($A$): The average proportion of weighted deprivations the poor people experience.
The MPI value is calculated as:
By including indicators like School Attendance, the MPI highlights that poverty is not just about a lack of income, but also a simultaneous lack of basic capabilities and services that fundamentally constrain a person’s potential.
.jpg "Best Performing Countries for The UNDP's Education Component in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)")
Best Performing Countries for The UNDP's Education Component in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), measures acute deprivations across health, education, and living standards.
It is important to note that the Global MPI is primarily calculated for developing countries and those in transition. Therefore, the "best performing countries" in the education component are those included in the index that report the lowest (or zero) percentage of the population deprived in this dimension. These are typically countries classified as upper-middle-income or with well-established social service and education systems.
The education component of the MPI is composed of two equally weighted indicators:
| Education Component Indicator | Deprivation Cutoff (Criteria for Deprivation) | Weight |
| Years of Schooling | No eligible household member has completed six years of schooling. | 1/6 |
| School Attendance | Any school-age child (of school entrance age up to class 8) is not attending school up to the age at which they would complete class 8. | 1/6 |
Top Performers in Education Deprivation
The countries that perform the best in the MPI's education component are those where the rate of deprivation is negligible, often approaching zero percent in both indicators. Among the countries measured in recent Global MPI reports, several have achieved this near-universal standard.
Countries with exceptionally low or negligible deprivation scores in the education component often include those in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and some high-performing middle-income countries. These nations have virtually eliminated the deprivations measured by the MPI's education indicators.
Illustrative Results of Top-Performing Countries
The table below provides a representative sample of countries that exhibit the lowest deprivation rates in the education indicators of the Global MPI, effectively making them the best performers in this dimension.
| Country | Education Component Deprivation (Approximate % of population deprived in at least one education indicator) | Notes |
| Montenegro | $<0.1\%$ | Demonstrates near-universal attainment in schooling and attendance. |
| Serbia | $<0.1\%$ | Shows negligible educational deprivation, reflecting robust public education. |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | $<0.1\%$ | Near-zero deprivation in education, typical of higher-income countries in the MPI set. |
| Cuba | $<0.1\%$ | A historical success story for education access, resulting in extremely low MPI deprivation. |
| Costa Rica | $<1.0\%$ | A high-performing country in the Americas with minimal educational deprivation. |
| Kazakhstan | $<1.0\%$ | Low rates of deprivation in schooling and attendance, reflecting a strong emphasis on education. |
Note: The precise percentage of the population deprived in the education component for the top performers is often so low it is reported as less than one-tenth of a percent ($<0.1\%$) or not applicable, indicating nearly 100% success in avoiding the two education deprivations measured.
Significance of Low Deprivation
For these top-performing countries, the education component contributes a minimal amount to their overall MPI score, meaning that nearly all citizens are meeting the minimum thresholds for schooling and school attendance set by the index. Their performance serves as a benchmark for achieving universal basic education, which is a key goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4).
.jpg "Lowest Performing Countries for The UNDP's Education Component in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)")
Lowest Performing Countries for The UNDP's Education Component in the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), measures acute deprivations across health, education, and living standards in over 100 developing countries.
The "lowest performing countries" in the education component are those included in the index that report the highest percentage of the population deprived in this dimension. These countries face the most severe challenges in ensuring basic educational access and attainment for their populations.
The education component of the MPI is composed of two equally weighted indicators:
| Education Component Indicator | Deprivation Cutoff (Criteria for Deprivation) | Weight |
| Years of Schooling | No eligible household member has completed six years of schooling. | 1/6 |
| School Attendance | Any school-age child (of school entrance age up to class 8) is not attending school up to the age at which they would complete class 8. | 1/6 |
Top Countries in Educational Deprivation
The countries that perform the worst in the MPI's education component are typically those with the highest overall MPI scores, often located in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. For these nations, the lack of education is one of the most significant and pervasive deprivations.
The highest rates of deprivation are often found in countries affected by conflict, fragility, and extreme poverty, where a substantial majority of the population lacks the minimum educational attainment measured by the index.
Results of Low-Performing Countries
Based on recent Global MPI reports, the following countries are illustrative of those with the highest rates of deprivation in the education component:
| Country | Education Component Deprivation (Approximate % of population deprived in at least one education indicator) | Notes on Context |
| Burkina Faso | High (One of the highest) | Deprivation in the education indicators is a major contributor to the country's overall high MPI. |
| Mali | High (One of the highest) | Faces severe challenges in both school enrollment and adult educational attainment. |
| Chad | High (One of the highest) | Often among the countries with the highest rates of deprivation across all MPI indicators, including education. |
| Niger | High (One of the highest) | Struggles significantly with school attendance and years of schooling, contributing heavily to its poverty score. |
| South Sudan | High (One of the highest) | Extreme educational deprivations driven by fragility, conflict, and limited infrastructure. |
Note: For the worst-performing countries, the percentage of the population deprived in the education component can often exceed $50\%$ or $60\%$, sometimes reaching the highest rates measured in the index.
Key Challenges in Educational Deprivation
The high deprivation rates in these countries reveal significant structural challenges:
Years of Schooling: A large portion of the adult population (aged 10 or older) has not completed six years of schooling, reflecting historical under-investment and high dropout rates.
School Attendance: A significant number of school-age children are not attending school, indicating barriers such as high costs, distant schools, child labor, conflict, and gender inequality.
Regional Disparities: Deprivations are often most acute in rural and remote regions and for specific marginalized groups, highlighting internal inequalities.
Addressing these deprivations requires comprehensive multi-sectoral policies focusing on increasing access, improving quality, and removing financial and social barriers to education.
.jpg "Organizations Involved for the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Education Component")
Organizations Involved for the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Education Component
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), co-developed and published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), moves beyond income to capture acute deprivations in health, education, and living standards. The Education Component is critical to this measurement, focusing on two key indicators: Years of Schooling and School Attendance.
The successful implementation, calculation, and policy application of the global MPI's education component rely on a core partnership and data provided by several key organizations.
Organizations Involved in the Global MPI Education Component
The table below outlines the primary organizations involved in the global MPI and their specific roles concerning its Education Component.
| Organization | Primary Role in the Global MPI | Specific Contribution to the Education Component |
| United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) | Co-publisher and Policy Leader | Uses the MPI's education data to inform national development strategies, track progress toward Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education), and ensure anti-poverty policies are multidimensional. |
| Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) | Co-developer and Technical Authority | Provides the technical methodology (Alkire-Foster method) and expertise for calculating the education indicators (Years of Schooling and School Attendance) using standardized deprivation cut-offs. |
| National Statistical Offices (NSOs) | Primary Data Source | These national government bodies conduct the crucial household surveys (such as DHS and MICS) which collect the raw data on household members' years of schooling and children's school attendance, essential for the MPI calculation. |
| United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) | Key Data Collection Partner | UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) are one of the main standardized household surveys used by the MPI. MICS specifically gathers high-quality data on children, including school attendance and educational attainment. |
| Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN) | Knowledge Sharing and Capacity Building | This network, coordinated by OPHI, facilitates knowledge exchange among policymakers globally. It helps national governments adapt the global education indicators to create and use their own National MPIs for targeted policy and budgeting. |
The Role of Education in Measuring Poverty
The education dimension accounts for one-third of the global MPI's total weight, highlighting its importance in human development.
Years of Schooling (1/6 weight): A household is deprived if no one in the family has completed at least six years of schooling, reflecting a severe intergenerational lack of foundational knowledge.
School Attendance (1/6 weight): A household is deprived if any school-aged child (up to the age they would complete Class 8) is not attending school, signaling current exclusion from education.
By linking these two indicators, the MPI provides a comprehensive picture of both past educational deprivation (low attainment in the family) and current educational exclusion (children not attending school). This data is then used by the UNDP and national partners to design integrated policies that address overlapping deprivations, such as coordinating education programs with efforts to provide clean water or nutrition, as deprivations are rarely experienced in isolation.
.jpg "Data Sources for the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Education Component")
Data Sources for the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Education Component
The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), published annually by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI), is a crucial tool for measuring acute poverty beyond income.
The Education Component of the MPI is calculated using data on two key indicators—Years of Schooling and School Attendance—which are derived exclusively from large-scale, comparable household surveys conducted by national governments and international partners.
The entire MPI calculation requires that all ten indicators across the three dimensions (Health, Education, and Living Standards) come from the same survey for a given country, ensuring a consistent household-level profile of overlapping deprivations.
Primary Data Sources for MPI Education Indicators
The global MPI relies on three main types of internationally comparable household surveys. These surveys are essential because they collect the necessary microdata (individual and household-level information) on education and other deprivations.
| Data Source | Administering Organization | Key Features and Relevance to Education Component |
| Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) | Funded by USAID and others, implemented by ICF | One of the most common data sources for the MPI. Collects detailed, nationally representative data on education attainment for all household members and school enrollment/attendance for children. |
| Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) | United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) | Specifically designed to provide data on the situation of children and women, making it an excellent source for the School Attendance indicator and child-specific data for the other dimensions. |
| National Surveys | National Statistical Offices (NSOs) | Surveys specifically developed by national governments (e.g., India's National Family Health Survey - NFHS) which are structured similarly to DHS or MICS to ensure comparability and meet the technical requirements of the MPI. |
The Education Indicators and Required Data
The data collected in the Household Questionnaire of these surveys directly informs the deprivation cut-offs for the education dimension:
| Education Indicator | Deprivation Definition (MPI Cut-off) | Required Data from Household Survey |
| Years of Schooling | No household member aged 'school entrance age + six years or older' has completed at least six years of schooling. | Individual Roster Data: Years of formal schooling completed by every adult household member. |
| School Attendance | Any school-aged child (up to the age at which they would complete Class 8) is not attending school. | Individual Roster Data: Current school enrollment/attendance status and age for all school-aged children in the household. |
Why Household Surveys Are Essential
Household surveys like DHS and MICS are the only feasible way to collect the information needed for the MPI because:
Microdata: They collect data at the household level, which is critical for measuring multidimensional poverty where deprivations (like a lack of electricity or a child not attending school) are counted for every person in the deprived household.
Overlap: The MPI requires data on all ten indicators for the same household to measure overlapping deprivations (e.g., being deprived in both school attendance and drinking water simultaneously).
Comparability: These surveys follow standardized international questionnaires and procedures, allowing the UNDP and OPHI to compare MPI values across over 100 developing countries.
MPI Data Integrity
The reliance of the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) on globally standardized microdata—primarily from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)—is fundamental to its credibility and policy impact.
By using these household-level data sources, the MPI successfully constructs a comprehensive deprivation profile for each person, capturing the specific information needed for its two educational indicators: Years of Schooling and School Attendance. This rigorous, data-driven methodology ensures that the resulting measure of educational deprivation is comparable across over 100 countries, making the MPI an indispensable tool for governments and the international community to target resources effectively and monitor progress toward eliminating acute poverty in all its overlapping dimensions.
Conclusion: Education as the Foundation of Multidimensional Poverty Reduction
The Education Component of the UNDP's Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), comprised of Years of Schooling and School Attendance, serves a critical role by highlighting a core dimension of human deprivation. By incorporating educational attainment and current enrollment, the MPI moves beyond simple economic metrics to reveal the deep-seated, intergenerational nature of poverty. The data, primarily sourced from standardized Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), allows policymakers to pinpoint households where educational deprivations overlap with failures in health and living standards.
Ultimately, the education indicators are not just measures of exclusion; they are powerful policy tools, guiding governments to invest in integrated programs that break the cycle of poverty by ensuring foundational knowledge and guaranteeing that no child is "left behind" due to a lack of access or opportunities. Addressing educational deprivation is therefore key to accelerating progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 1 (No Poverty) simultaneously.