The counting approach to multidimensional poverty

This paper investigates the levels and evolution of poverty in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe using the decomposability properties of poverty measures based on a counting approach.

The authors compare poverty measures such as the Alkire and Foster index with alternative poverty indices that are sensitive to inequality. Poverty is estimated using Demographic and Health Surveys for different years for Malawi (2004, 2010 and 2015), for Mozambique (2003 and 2011), Tanzania (2004, 2010 and 2015) and for Zimbabwe (2005, 2010 and 2015).

The findings show that one obtains insightful information when looking at the breadth and inequality components of multidimensional poverty.