THE NATIONAL Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) hopes to fully implement next year a new indicator that more accurately measures poverty, known as the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released the details of the MPI last week. It measures levels of deprivation in education, health and nutrition, housing, water and sanitation, and employment, through 13 sub-indicators.
“Hopefully, PSA will finalize its methodology soon and report on this measure periodically starting next year,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said in a statement.
“Not only do we now know if a family is poor, but also the aspect of quality of life in which they are suffering the most deprivation from, and in response, the intervention that is most needed,” he added. — Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan
