Multidimensional poverty reduction in India between 1999 and 2006 : where and how?

<p>India has witnessed high economic growth since the 1980s, and a reduction in the share of income poor, though the measured extent of this reduction varies, has been confirmed by different methods. Poverty, however, has multiple dimensions, hence this paper explores the improvement in other...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alkire, S, Seth, S
Format: Working paper
Language:English
Published: Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) 2013
_version_ 1826288001362165760
author Alkire, S
Seth, S
author_facet Alkire, S
Seth, S
author_sort Alkire, S
collection OXFORD
description <p>India has witnessed high economic growth since the 1980s, and a reduction in the share of income poor, though the measured extent of this reduction varies, has been confirmed by different methods. Poverty, however, has multiple dimensions, hence this paper explores the improvement in other social deprivations. An analysis of poverty from a multidimensional perspective shows the prevalence of multiple overlapping deprivations among the poor. This paper analyses the change in multidimensional poverty in India between 1999 and 2006 using National Family and Health Surveys. We find a strong reduction in national poverty driven relatively more by some of the standard of living indicators, such as electricity, housing condition, access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities, than other social indicators. The reduction, however, has not been uniform across different population subgroups and the pattern of reduction across states has been less pro-poor that of income poverty. In addition, the poorer subgroups have shown slower progress, widening the inter-group disparity in multidimensional poverty. In order to examine trends among the poorest of the poor, we define two additional subgroups of the poor and find that multidimensional poverty reduction has been accompanied by even stronger reductions in the share of the poorest of the poor by both definitions. The in-depth analysis pursued in this paper can also be conducted for other developing countries.</p>
first_indexed 2024-03-07T02:07:08Z
format Working paper
id oxford-uuid:9f5d9ef6-76fd-4f2d-b7e7-ec5605acae9d
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-07T02:07:08Z
publishDate 2013
publisher Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI)
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:9f5d9ef6-76fd-4f2d-b7e7-ec5605acae9d2022-03-27T00:57:15ZMultidimensional poverty reduction in India between 1999 and 2006 : where and how? Working paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:9f5d9ef6-76fd-4f2d-b7e7-ec5605acae9dEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetOxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI)2013Alkire, SSeth, S<p>India has witnessed high economic growth since the 1980s, and a reduction in the share of income poor, though the measured extent of this reduction varies, has been confirmed by different methods. Poverty, however, has multiple dimensions, hence this paper explores the improvement in other social deprivations. An analysis of poverty from a multidimensional perspective shows the prevalence of multiple overlapping deprivations among the poor. This paper analyses the change in multidimensional poverty in India between 1999 and 2006 using National Family and Health Surveys. We find a strong reduction in national poverty driven relatively more by some of the standard of living indicators, such as electricity, housing condition, access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities, than other social indicators. The reduction, however, has not been uniform across different population subgroups and the pattern of reduction across states has been less pro-poor that of income poverty. In addition, the poorer subgroups have shown slower progress, widening the inter-group disparity in multidimensional poverty. In order to examine trends among the poorest of the poor, we define two additional subgroups of the poor and find that multidimensional poverty reduction has been accompanied by even stronger reductions in the share of the poorest of the poor by both definitions. The in-depth analysis pursued in this paper can also be conducted for other developing countries.</p>
spellingShingle Alkire, S
Seth, S
Multidimensional poverty reduction in India between 1999 and 2006 : where and how?
title Multidimensional poverty reduction in India between 1999 and 2006 : where and how?
title_full Multidimensional poverty reduction in India between 1999 and 2006 : where and how?
title_fullStr Multidimensional poverty reduction in India between 1999 and 2006 : where and how?
title_full_unstemmed Multidimensional poverty reduction in India between 1999 and 2006 : where and how?
title_short Multidimensional poverty reduction in India between 1999 and 2006 : where and how?
title_sort multidimensional poverty reduction in india between 1999 and 2006 where and how
work_keys_str_mv AT alkires multidimensionalpovertyreductioninindiabetween1999and2006whereandhow
AT seths multidimensionalpovertyreductioninindiabetween1999and2006whereandhow