Recently, Indian Government think-tank NITI Aayog has published its report on India’s “Multidimensional Poverty Index” (MPI) based on NFHS-4 (2015-16)

Key Points
• Report was prepared on the basis of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for 2015-16.
• Basing itself on the National Health Family Survey (NHFS) for 2015-16, the NITI Aayog has said 25.01 per cent of the Indian population are multidimensionally poor.

How MPI was measured?
India’s national Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was created using globally accepted and robust methodology developed by Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The index was created with the aim of leveraging the monitoring mechanism and methodology of MPI in order to rigorously benchmark national and sub-national performance.

MPI of India for 2021
• Launched by UNDP and OPHI, MPI for 2021 showed that 27.9 per cent of India’s population were multidimensionally poor.
• India ranked 62nd out of 109 nations on the index.
• The multidimensional poverty index is calculated using 12 indicators -- nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, antenatal care, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets and bank account.
• These indicators have been grouped under three dimensions namely, health, education and standard of living.

50% population of Bihar 'multidimensionally poor'
With over 50% of the population in Bihar identified as “multidimensionally poor”, Bihar has the maximum percentage of population living in poverty among all the States and the Union Territories.

As per the index, 51.91% of the population in Bihar is poor, followed by Jharkhand (42.16%), Uttar Pradesh (37.79%), Madhya Pradesh (36.65%) and Meghalaya (32.67%). On the other hand, Kerala registered lowest population poverty levels (0.71%), followed by Puducherry (1.72%), Lakshadweep (1.82%), Goa (3.76%) and Sikkim (3.82%).

Other States and UTs where less than 10% of the population are poor include Tamil Nadu (4.89%), Andaman & Nicobar Islands (4.30%), Delhi (4.79%), Punjab (5.59%), Himachal Pradesh (7.62%) and Mizoram (9.8%).