High-Level Meeting of the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network is taking place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, 27-29 August 2024. The meeting is hosted by the Government of the Republic of Uzbekistan via the Center for Economic Research and Reforms (CERR) under the Administration of the President, with support from UNDP Uzbekistan.
The National Statistical Committee of the Republic of Belarus at the event is represented by the First Deputy Chairperson, Elena Kukharevich. During the session devoted to the development of national multidimensional poverty indices, Elena Kukharevich presented the experience of Belstat on the development of methodological approaches for calculation of the multidimensional poverty index in the Republic of Belarus.
“The National Statistical Committee has been working on developing an official statistical methodology for multidimensional poverty assessment for a number of years. In order to select the most significant indicators for the country and to determine which norms can be used as poverty thresholds, various program and strategic documents defining the key directions of the country's development in the medium and long term were analyzed. At the same time, an inventory of data from the sample household living standards survey, conducted annually by the state statistics bodies, was carried out. To ensure a comprehensive approach to the calculation of the national multidimensional poverty index, 5 measurement areas were selected: education, health and environment, housing conditions, employment, and living standards. And for each area of measurement 1 to 3 indicators were defined. Experimental calculation of the national multidimensional poverty index was carried out in two variants: at the household level and at the individual level. The results of calculation for 2023 showed that the multidimensional poverty index for households was 0.021, for the population - 0.01. This indicates a low level of multidimensional poverty in the Republic of Belarus,” noted the First Deputy Chairperson.
In addition, Elena Kukharevich drew attention in her speech to the reduction in the absolute poverty rate - the share of the country's population living below the national poverty line fell to 3.6% according to the data for 2023, with the established threshold of 4% by 2030.
On the margins of the Meeting with the assistance of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Republic of Belarus held a meeting with the experts of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI). The parties discussed further actions to validate the indicators used to assess the national multidimensional poverty index.
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