Niti Aayog says 20.79 Crore Indians Are 'Multidimensionally Poor' - Banjot Kaur

The Wire

The Niti Aayog’s second edition of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) has projected that about 14.96% of the Indian population is ‘multidimensionally’ poor. In absolute terms, 207.9 million (20.79 crore) Indians are poor and face deprivation in multiple development areas, as per population projections for the year 2021. Though this report also claimed that the multidimensional poverty in India has declined from 24.85% to 14.96% between 2015-16 and 2019-21.

The primary data source to arrive at these figures was National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5). The key verticals used when arriving at the national MPI were health, education, and standard of living. 

Further, these three key verticals had several indicators which were weighed into calculating what is known as ‘deprivation score’. The deprivation score is the sum of the weighted status of all the indicators for an individual. If the deprivation score is more than 0.33, only then an individual is considered multidimensionally poor, even if s/he is poor as per some of the indicators. 0.33 (or 33%) is considered the standard cutoff globally, the report said. 

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