Multidimensional Poverty and the Post-2015 MDGs

Sabine Alkire and Andy Sumner advocate the use of a global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for the post-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Authors support the use of what they call a ‘headline’ MDG indicator to provide an intuitive, accessible measure of multidimensional poverty (comprising dimensions such as health, education, and standard of living) to complement the income-based approach to poverty exemplified by the World Bank’s $1.25/day standard. The Global MPI covers over 100 developing countries. Authors suggest that an ‘MPI 2.0’ could be created with dimensions, indicators and cutoffs that reflect the post-2015 MDG consensus.