Measuring rural poverty with a multidimensional approach: The Rural Multidimensional Poverty Index

Book excerpt: This report presents the results of a collaboration between FAO and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), at the University of Oxford. The first part of the report proposes a framework for measuring multidimensional poverty in rural areas and describes the motivation for the Rural Multidimensional Poverty Index (R-MPI) proposal, which departs from the established global Multidimensional Poverty Index (global MPI), first designed in 2010 as an international measure of acute poverty covering over 100 developing countries by adding modifications in the dimensions and embedded indicators. The second part of this report presents an empirical test of the proposed R-MPI, using data from four household surveys conducted in Ethiopia, Malawi, the Niger, and Nigeria which are harmonized within the Rural Livelihoods Information System (RuLIS).