The many forms of poverty: Analyses of deprivation interlinkages in the developing world

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that for efficient progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), their interlinkages have to be taken into account. The global Multidimensional Poverty Index is based on ten deprivations indicators each of which is aligned with specific SDGs, and the overlap of these deprivations already figures prominently in the way poverty is measured by this index, i.e. as multiple deprivation. In this paper we complement previous analyses with a novel account to explore how deprivations are interlinked and how these interconnections vary across the developing world. More specifically, we suggest to analyse deprivations within our measurement framework using profiles, bundles, and codeprivations which each illuminate particular aspects of the joint distribution of deprivations. Additionally, we apply latent class analysis to corroborate our findings and to uncover additional insights. We use data for 111 countries representing 6.1 billion people to document key patterns at the global level and selected findings for world regions and countries, which may serve as a useful benchmark for more in-depth analyses. We also discuss how our approach may be adopted to different settings and how it can inform multi-sectoral policy programmes.