Table 1 Variables used in the construction of the global multidimensional poverty index

Health (1/3)

Nutrition (1/16)

A household is deprived if there is at least one child under 5 who is either underweight, stunted, or wasted

Child mortality (1/6)

A household is deprived if any children died in the household in the last 5 years

Education (1/3)

Years of schooling (1/6)

A household is deprived if all members aged 15+ have less than 8 years of schooling OR cannot read or write English or Chichewa

School attendance (1/6)

A household is deprived if at least one child aged 6-14 is not attending school

Living standards (1/3)

Electricity (1/18)

A household is deprived if it does not have access to electricity

Cooking fuel (1/18)

A household is deprived if rubbish is disposed of on a public heap, burned, disposed of by other means or there is no disposal

Housing (1/18)

A household is deprived if at least two of the following dwelling structural components are of poor quality:

 • Walls (grass, mud, compacted earth, unfired mud bricks, wood, iron sheets or other materials)

 • Roof (grass, plastic sheeting or other materials)

 • Floor (sand, smoothed mud, wood or other materials)

Assets (1/18)

Members of the household are considered deprived in assets if the household does not own more than one of: radio, TV, telephone, bike, motorbike, refrigerator, computer or animal cart and does not own a car or truck

Drinking water (1/18)

Members of the household are considered deprived if the household does not have access to safe drinking water according to MDG guidelines, or safe drinking water is more than a 30-minute walk from home roundtrip

Sanitation (1/18)

Members of the household are considered deprived if the household's sanitation facility is not improved, according to MDG guidelines, or it is improved but shared with other households