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Context

The 2025 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report indicates that the world's poorest are highly susceptible to climate change, with nearly all impoverished individuals in South Asia experiencing at least one major climate shock.

What is the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)?

It is released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

It is a comprehensive measure that looks beyond income to capture how people experience poverty in their daily lives.

It identifies deprivations across three core dimensions, which are broken down into 10 specific indicators:

1. Health: Nutrition, Child Mortality.
2. Education: Years of Schooling, School Attendance.
3. Standard of Living: Cooking Fuel, Sanitation, Drinking Water, Electricity, Housing, Assets.

A person is considered multidimensionally poor if they are deprived in at least one-third of these weighted indicators.  

What are the Key Findings of the 2025 MPI Report?

Global Poverty Snapshot

1.1 billion people across 112 countries live in acute multidimensional poverty. Over half of them (584 million) are children under 18.

The Poverty-Climate Overlap

887 million multidimensionally poor people (nearly 8 out of 10) are directly exposed to at least one major climate hazard.

Multiple Shocks

651 million poor people face two or more hazards, and 309 million endure three or four, creating a "triple or quadruple burden" that severely amplifies their deprivations.

Geographical Hotspots

South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are the global epicenters of this crisis, with 380 million and 344 million poor people exposed to climate hazards, respectively.

Why is South Asia Particularly Vulnerable to Climate Shocks?

South Asia's extreme vulnerability stems from a toxic mix of geography, high population density, and socio-economic factors.

High Exposure to Hazards

The report highlights that large areas of Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan face an acute mixture of poverty combined with intense heatwaves, devastating floods, and severe air pollution.

Livelihood Dependence on Climate

A large segment of the poor population depends on climate-sensitive sectors like agriculture and informal labour. 

For them, a failed monsoon, a heatwave, or a flood directly translates into loss of income and food, pushing them deeper into poverty.

Limited Adaptive Capacity

Impoverished households have minimal savings, inadequate housing, and poor access to insurance or social safety nets

This limits their ability to cope with and recover from climate shocks, trapping them in a vicious cycle of poverty and vulnerability. 

How Does Climate Change Exacerbate Multidimensional Poverty?

Climate change acts as a "poverty multiplier," directly worsening the deprivations measured by the MPI:

• Health: Extreme weather events disrupt food production, leading to malnutrition (Nutrition indicator). Floods and changing weather patterns increase the spread of diseases, impacting Child Mortality.
• Education: Climate-induced disasters like floods destroy schools and displace families, forcing children to drop out and disrupting their Years of Schooling and School Attendance.
• Standard of Living:
• Floods and cyclones destroy homes (Housing).
• Droughts deplete clean water sources (Drinking Water).
• Disasters damage sanitation facilities (Sanitation) and power lines (Electricity).
• Families lose livestock and tools (Assets), making recovery nearly impossible.

What are India's Efforts to Combat Multidimensional Poverty and Build Climate Resilience?

Poverty Reduction

• India lifted 415 million people out of multidimensional poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-21. (Source: UNDP)
• According to a NITI Aayog discussion paper (Jan 2024), 248.2 million people escaped multidimensional poverty between 2013-14 and 2022-23. The poverty headcount ratio fell from 29.17% to 11.28% in this period.
• The government aims to reduce multidimensional poverty to below 1% and achieve SDG Target 1.2 (halving poverty) well ahead of the 2030 deadline.

Social Protection Schemes: India has implemented large-scale programs targeting key MPI indicators:

• Health & Nutrition: Ayushman Bharat, Poshan Abhiyan.
• Living Standards: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Housing), Jal Jeevan Mission (Drinking Water), Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (Cooking Fuel).
• Livelihoods: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). (Source: PIB, 2024).

Climate Action and Legal Framework:

• National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC): This outlines eight national missions focused on sustainable development, including climate-resilient agriculture.
• Supreme Court's Judgment: The Court recognized the "right to be free from the adverse effects of climate change" as a fundamental right under the right to life (Article 21) and equality (Article 14).

 Source: DOWNTOEARTH