Poverty and inequality in the non-income multidimensional space: A critical review in the Arab States

WORKING PAPER by Abdel-Hameed Nawar

This working paper  discusses the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) and provides cross-country and country-specific discussion on poverty and inequality in the non-income space in the Arab region.

The MPI has the advantage of capturing more dimensions of human deprivations and of including both the level and the intensity of deprivation. It is however highly subjective on the choice of its dimensions. The paper shows that rural populations in the Arab region suffer from deprivation rates far higher than urban populations - with the the Arab Maghreb countries presenting unthinkably large rural-urban inequality. Moreover, deprivation rates are generally much higher in living standards than in health and education dimensions.

Visit the The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) to read the paper