GENEVA: A staggering 455 million of the world’s poor reside in countries affected by violent conflict, undermining and even reversing hard-won progress in poverty reduction, according to the latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
This year’s report, jointly published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford, includes original statistical research on multidimensional poverty for 112 countries and 6.3 billion people. It also features a detailed analysis of the relationship between conflict and poverty, supported by new survey data from 20 countries.
The 2024 MPI report reveals that 1.1 billion people live in acute poverty worldwide, with 40 percent of them situated in countries experiencing war, fragility, or low levels of peace, according to at least one of the three widely used conflict datasets.
Due to data limitations, the global MPI is calculated over a ten-year period (2012-2023) to provide a comparable index of global trends. In this new report, poverty data for each country were matched with their conflict or fragility status, yielding fresh insights into the overlap between conflict and poverty.
Challenges in collecting data in conflict-affected regions likely result in an underestimation of multidimensional poverty. However, the available data highlights the severe impact of conflict on poverty alleviation.
“Conflicts have intensified and multiplied in recent years, resulting in unprecedented casualties, the displacement of millions, and widespread disruption to lives and livelihoods,” stated Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “Our research indicates that of the 1.1 billion people living in multidimensional poverty, almost half a billion are in conflict-affected countries. We must accelerate efforts to support them and ensure access to specialized development and recovery initiatives to break the cycle of poverty and crisis.”
Countries experiencing conflict show higher deprivations across all ten indicators of multidimensional poverty, highlighting the devastating effects on the most vulnerable populations. For example, in conflict-affected areas, over one in four poor individuals lacks access to electricity, compared to just over one in twenty in more stable regions.
Disparities are also evident in child education (17.7 percent vs. 4.4 percent), nutrition (20.8 percent vs. 7.2 percent), and child mortality (8 percent vs. 1.1 percent). The analysis reveals that deprivations in nutrition, access to electricity, and water and sanitation are significantly worse for the poor in conflict zones compared to those in peaceful settings.
Poverty reduction is often slowest in countries most affected by conflict, where poverty rates are typically highest. The report includes a detailed case study on Afghanistan, which saw 5.3 million additional people fall into multidimensional poverty from 2015/16 to 2022/23. Current data shows that nearly two-thirds of Afghans (64.9 percent) are now living in poverty.
Sabina Alkire, Director of OPHI, commented, “This study provides the first comprehensive global analysis examining how multidimensionally poor people are impacted in conflict settings. The findings are sobering. Out of the 6.3 billion people living in 112 countries, 1.1 billion are poor, with 455 million in conflict-affected areas. Their struggles extend beyond poverty alone.”
Moreover, poverty levels in conflict zones are significantly higher, with over one in three people in war-torn countries living in poverty (34.8 percent) compared to one in nine in more stable nations (10.9 percent), according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program. Unfortunately, poverty reduction is slower in these areas, leaving the poor in conflict settings further behind. “These figures underscore the urgent need for action; we cannot eradicate poverty without investing in peace,” Alkire emphasized.
