Estimation of Multidimensional Poverty in Pakistan: Ranking Districts on Incidence and Severity of Deprivation
Arif Naveed*
Nazim Ali**

While the official estimation of poverty in Pakistan continues to be uni-dimensional, based upon consumption level, the recent theoretical and methodological advancements in the literature on poverty make a strong case for multidimensional measurement of poverty. The underlying argument for using this alternative approach is to take into account the multiple deprivations of valuable capabilities and resources that poor often face. These multiple deprivations are usually not reflected in uni-dimensional measurement. By building upon the relatively scarce literature on multidimensional poverty measurement in Pakistan, this paper attempts to provide estimates of multidimensional poverty using the PSLM 2008-09 data, over 15 indicators pertaining to following four dimensions; 1) education, 2) health, 3) living conditions, and 4) wealth. It provides estimates of poverty at the national, provincial and district levels. It also ranks 130 districts of Pakistan on following three measures of multidimensional poverty index; a) headcount ratio; b) adjusted headcount ratio; and c) average poverty. This paper also identifies the major drivers of poverty at the national and provincial levels disaggregated by rural and urban households.

Ranking of districts on poverty helps identify the geographical regions where poverty is concentrated the most. Similarly, the identification of major drivers of poverty informs policy makers to allocate scarce resources towards major drivers of poverty so that the goal of poverty alleviation could be achieved effectively.
* Mr. Arif Naveed is a Senior Research Associate at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad, with research interests in poverty measurement, education and intergenerational change and contents of education and discrimination in Pakistan
** Mr. Nazim Ali is a monitoring and evaluation expert at the SDPI and has research interest in the issues of agriculture, water management and child labour.