One out of six Lankans now multi-dimensionally poor and bulk of them are in rural areas

Approximately one out of every six (16 percent) persons in the country is multi-dimensionally poor, says the Sri Lanka’s first official national Multidimensional Poverty Index (national MPI).

The National MPI, using data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2019, launched last week, shows that more than eight out of every 10 (80.9 percent) persons who are poor live in rural areas.

The National MPI, prepared jointly by UNICEF, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the European Union, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) indicates that poverty levels in districts vary significantly, from a low of 3.5 percent in Colombo to 44.2 percent in Nuwara Eliya. Even for districts with similar MPI values, high-impact policies must consider the indicator composition of poverty, in order to plan the most cost-effective response. Estate areas are pockets of poverty, requiring policy attention, as more than half (51.3 percent) of all people in these areas are living in poverty.

The Executive Summary of the report, titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Multidimensional Poverty Index 2019 Results: National and Child Analyses’ shows that 17.9% of the people, aged 65 years and older, are the poorest age group in Sri Lanka, with the highest headcount ratio (17.9 percent), as well as intensity of poverty and MPI. . Deprivation patterns – and therefore policy and budgetary responses – vary by district and age. The deprivations that require immediate policy attention are the lack of access to health facilities and basic facilities, clean cooking fuels, and safe drinking water.

It says: In 2021, in close consultation with various ministries, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) developed the first official national Multidimensional Poverty Index (national MPI) for Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan national MPI is an official permanent statistic of multidimensional poverty that will be updated and published regularly, reported as Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 1.2.2, and used to complement the monetary poverty measure. A key population of concern around poverty is young children, whose deprivations in nutrition and cognitive development have lifelong effects. To further probe and support child poverty policies, DCS crafted an individual child Multidimensional Poverty Index (child MPI) for children aged 0-4, which includes exactly the same indicators as the national MPI, plus undernutrition and early childhood development. The national MPI and the child MPI are both based on data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2019 (HIES 2019). The HIES 2019 was modified to include key MPI indicators, and will do so in future, permitting updates of both MPIs. Sri Lanka’s child MPI is the first official measure of child poverty that links directly and precisely with the national MPI. The MPI is not just a statistic, it is a policy tool. It provides relevant information to accelerate poverty reduction with limited resources – by informing high-impact budget allocation, focused interventions, policy design and coordination, and poverty monitoring. This report presents the key findings of Sri Lanka’s official permanent national MPI and its linked child MPI, further disaggregated by location, age and sex, and the policy implications of these findings. This report explains why Sri Lanka was motivated to develop multidimensional poverty indices, the process followed to design these policy-salient measures, and the measurement methodology. The national MPI results convey the level and composition of multidimensional poverty, disaggregated by age, area, district, and sex of the household head. The child MPI results delve further into an individual measure for children aged 0-4 that is directly linked to the national MPI, but which exposes particular needs of young children.