Multidimensional Poverty of Children in Mozambique

Vincenzo Salvucci,Andrea Rossi,Kristi Mahrt,Finn Tarp

doi:10.1007/s12187-019-09696-6

Abstract

We analyse the multidimensional wellbeing of children aged 0–17 in Mozambique and find that 46.3% can be considered multidimensionally poor. A substantial divide exists between urban and rural areas and between northern and southern provinces. We compare Mozambican children’s wellbeing with that of children in other regional countries. Despite impressive gains in some indicators, multidimensional child poverty in Mozambique still substantially exceeds that in neighbouring countries. Targeted policies considering the specificities of child welfare are needed to ensure that the national-level growth and poverty reduction experienced by the population as a whole translate into better living conditions for children.

Highlights

Child poverty is overwhelming in the developing world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
A poverty index level of 0.212 reflects that 46.3% of all children are deprived in at least one-third of the weighted indicators, and that these multidimensionally poor children are deprived in an average of 45.7% of the weighted indicators
Poverty is increasingly considered and studied as a multidimensional phenomenon (UNDP and OPHI 2019). In this context, following the release of the 2014/15 IOF data Mozambique has developed in 2016 a national multidimensional poverty index based on a wide range of welfare indicators and dimensions (DEEF 2016). This has inspired the construction of a multidimensional poverty index specific to children belonging to different age groups

Summary

Introduction

Child poverty is overwhelming in the developing world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Save the Children (2016) estimates that about 570 million children live in extreme monetary poverty (less than $1.25 a day) worldwide. Recent estimates by Alkire et al (2017) suggest that the multidimensional poverty status of children might even be worse: about half of all multidimensionally poor people are children – i.e. about 689 million people1 –, but 87% of them live in just two regions, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.. Mozambique is among the poorest countries in Africa and in the world, not just in terms of GDP per capita, and with respect to the Human Development Index and to the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (UNDP 2018; UNDP and OPHI 2019). At the national level, consumption poverty has decreased by about 5 percentage points and welfare levels have improved with respect to 2008/09; comparing 2014/15 levels with the very low welfare levels observed in 1996/97, it emerges clearly that the consumption poverty reduction and the gains in well-being have been substantial, in both rural and urban zones and in every province (DEEF 2016).

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion