“The incedence and intensity of poverty are more important in determining poverty based on income alone”. In this context analyse the latest United Nations Multidimensional Poverty Index Report.
Approach · directive: “analyse”
What it asks · Analyse how the global MPI measures poverty through incidence and intensity across health, education and living standards, and what it shows for India compared with income-based measures.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- Explain: how the MPI measures poverty through incidence and intensity across health, education and living standards
- Analyse the latest UN MPI report's findings for India, against income-only measures
- Analyse: what the findings imply and the limits of the index
Open with · The global MPI, produced by UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, measures acute poverty as overlapping deprivations rather than income alone.
Cover
- Method: ten indicators in three equal-weight dimensions (health, education, living standards); a person is poor if deprived in a third or more of weighted indicators.
- Incidence and intensity: MPI is incidence (share of poor people) times intensity (average deprivation among them), so it responds to changes in both.
- India in Global MPI 2023: incidence 16.4% (2019/21), intensity 42.0%, MPI 0.069; about 415 million people exited poverty in the 15 years from 2005/06.
- Beyond income: India's multidimensional incidence is 6.4 points above monetary poverty ($2.15 a day), so people above the income line still face deprivations.
- Persistent gaps: nutrition, schooling, sanitation and housing deprivations, wide State and caste gaps, and a further 18.7% vulnerable to poverty.
- National MPI (NITI Aayog, 12 indicators) fell from 24.85% (2015–16) to 14.96% (2019–21), helped by sanitation, cooking-fuel and housing schemes.
- Latest edition (October 2025) is titled 'Overlapping Hardships: Poverty and Climate Hazards'; survey lags and household-level averages remain limits.
Close with · Incidence and intensity together show that poverty is more than low income; India's steep fall in multidimensional poverty is real, but the remaining deprivations need targeted, convergent action.
Add value (verified)
- UNDP's 2023 India profile notes that multidimensional incidence is 6.4 percentage points higher than monetary poverty, so income alone hides deprivations. Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023 — Briefing note for countries: India (UNDP Human Development Report Office) ↗“The headcount or incidence of multidimensional poverty is 6.4 percentage points higher than the incidence of monetary poverty.”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2020, GS Paper II — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 343 words (UPSC limit 250) · Minimalist IAS
The global Multidimensional Poverty Index, produced by UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, measures acute poverty as overlapping deprivations rather than income below a line; it is built from exactly the two quantities the question names, incidence and intensity.
How the index works
- Ten indicators in three equally weighted dimensions: health (nutrition, child mortality), education (years of schooling, attendance) and living standards (cooking fuel, sanitation, water, electricity, housing, assets).
- A person is poor if deprived in a third or more of the weighted indicators. MPI = incidence (the share of people who are poor) × intensity (the average deprivation score of the poor), so it falls when fewer people are poor or when the poor are less deprived.
What the report shows for India
- The 2020 edition, the latest at the time of the exam and built on 2015/16 data, recorded India's fall as the largest anywhere in absolute numbers: about 273 million people left multidimensional poverty between 2005/06 and 2015/16.
- The 2023 edition (data for 2019/21): incidence 16.4%, intensity 42.0%, MPI 0.069; about 415 million people exited poverty in fifteen years.
- Beyond income: multidimensional incidence is 6.4 percentage points higher than monetary poverty at $2.15 a day, so many above the income line still lack sanitation, housing or adequate nutrition.
- Persistent gaps: nutrition, schooling, sanitation and housing deprivations, wide State and caste gaps, and a further 18.7% of the population vulnerable to poverty.
- National MPI (NITI Aayog, twelve indicators) fell from 24.85% (2015–16) to 14.96% (2019–21), crediting sanitation, cooking-fuel and housing schemes.
Implications and limits
- Progress came from falling incidence and falling intensity together, which income data cannot show; policy should now converge nutrition, schooling and housing on the poorest districts.
- Limits: survey lags of several years, household-level scoring that hides intra-household inequality, and no capture of income shocks such as the pandemic.
Incidence and intensity reveal both how many are poor and how poor they are; India's steep multidimensional decline is real, but the deprivations that remain call for targeted, convergent action rather than an income line alone.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.