A Profile of Multidimensional Poverty in America

Abstract

Applying the Alkire-Foster method to data from the 2008–2018 American Community Surveys, we calculate the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for the U.S. as the product of the incidence and intensity of deprivation. Incidence is represented by the headcount ratio (i.e., the proportion of the population that is classified as multidimensionally poor), while intensity is represented by the average deprivation intensity value (i.e., the mean deprivation score among those who suffer multidimensional poverty). Documenting multidimensional poverty in the U.S. at the national level, we estimate that in the typical year during our reference period, 25,328,644 U.S. residents were multidimensionally poor. This is equivalent to 8.01 percent of the country’s population. We also produce corresponding estimates for four segments of the population: those who are neither multidimensionally poor nor vulnerable to multidimensional poverty, those who are vulnerable to multidimensional poverty, those experiencing moderate multidimensional poverty, and those who face severe multidimensional poverty. Further, we estimate the frequency of deprivation at the dimension and indicator levels of detail. To demonstrate the robustness of our MPI measure, we close the chapter by comparing several alternative constructions of the MPI and the associated incidence and intensity series to our primary measure.

Appendix

Table 4.5 Deprivation frequencies by dimension and indicator, annual and aggregate values, 2008–2018