By Adrino Mazenda, Catherine Althaus and Massimiliano Tani
Poverty goes beyond income. It often arises when health, education and opportunities fall short of meeting people’s needs. Individuals are classified as impoverished when they face deprivation in one-third or more of the indicators in a multidimensional poverty index. The index reflects the various influences on socioeconomic class. These include housing, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, nutrition and school attendance.
The index is one of the most comprehensive measures of poverty. The fact that the multidimentional index captures multiple dimensions enables it to reflect overlapping disadvantages. And provides a fuller picture of well-being. Other monetary measures such as income aren’t as comprehensive.
About 18% of the world’s population are poor by the definition of the multidimentional poverty index. Sub-Saharan Africa is especially affected, with a multidimensional poverty rate nearing 59%.
In South Africa, it is at around 40%. This means it experiences four in 10 of the dimensions of poverty.
The province
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