Limitations of MPI

♤ The indicators may not reflect capabilities but instead reflect outputs (such as years of schooling) or inputs (such as cooking fuel).

♤ The health data are relatively weak and overlook some groups’ deprivations, especially for nutrition.

♤ In some cases careful judgments were needed to address missing data.

♤ Intra-household inequalities may be severe, but these could not be reflected.

♤ MPI goes well beyond a headcount ratio to include the intensity of poverty, it does not measure inequality among the poor, although decompositions by groups can be used to reveal group-based inequalities.

♤ Estimates presented are based on publicly available data and cover various years between 2007 and 2018, which limits direct cross-country comparability.

1.5. What Causes Poverty