EU-MODA: Poverty and
Multiple Overlapping Deprivation
Analysis in the EU
Chris de Neubourg
Paris, November 2015
TIAS School for Business and Society, Tilburg University,
SPRI, Brussels, EPRI, Cape Town.
Poverty is usually measured not having
enough resources - money
“Poverty is not having the financial resources
necessary to
support a person at the
subsistence level of food, shelter,
clothing
and other necessities”
(Rowntree, 1901)
• In EU: at risk of poverty: 60% (50%) median
national income
EPRI
Monetary poverty: as a proxy measure
Monetary poverty measures solve an aggregation and weighting
problem
Income needed to pay for this
shelter
food
Other
necessities
clothing
EPRI
But what is poverty??
“Poverty is not having the financial resources necessary to
support a person at the subsistence level of food, shelter,
clothing and other necessities” ?
We can study that by looking at the financial resources to …
But we can also study:
Whether people have enough (adequate) food, shelter, clothing and
other necessities
First = monetary poverty
Second = deprivations or deprivation poverty
EPRI
Monetary poverty: How do we calculate
monetary child poverty?
• Child Poverty Headcount Ratio
• Children in poor households= X% of all
children
• It is very common globally, and usual in SSA, for children to be overrepresented in poor households
• e.g. Children are 40% of population but 50% of the poor
• Consider headcount ratios by household type/composition
5
Monetary poverty: What about child poverty?
Why should we focus on child poverty?
• Different because
– Basic needs for children are different than those for adults
– Children are dependent on others and less mobile, their environment
is especially important
– Children do not control income, income may not be spent in ways that
benefit children, must therefore measure their welfare directly
• Important to focus on children because
– Poverty can have lasting effects, alter a child’s life forever
– Returns to investing in children occur in the future, but policy-makers
can be ‘short-sighted’ and focus on present, ignoring future
Child poverty is probably better
measured by deprivation
or
at least we need to look at both
aspects:
living in a poor family
and
not having what is needed (being
deprived)
Thus we need monetary poverty and
deprivation poverty
“Poverty is not having the financial resources necessary to
support a person at the subsistence level of food, shelter,
clothing and other necessities” ?
We can study that by looking at the financial resources to …
But we can also study:
Whether people have enough (adequate) food, shelter, clothing and
other necessities
First = monetary poverty
Second = deprivations or deprivation poverty
EPRI
Monetary poverty ≠ deprivation
• Missing markets of basic services and goods
• Intra-household differences in needs and ‘says’:
– Do not always get their fair share in a household [Intra-household distribution
of wealth (discrimination)]
– Children cannot make consumption decisions themselves [Lack of consumer
sovereignty]
• Discrepancy remains an issue even for highly developed economies:
– Children’s needs often have a high public good character [Public/private
nature of some goods and services and their pricing]
– Having enough money [financial resources] does not always imply access to
goods and services
– Not having financial resources does not always imply not having access to
goods and services
EPRI
Bulgaria
Belgium
Finland
Monetary poverty ≠ deprivation
Monetary poverty (NPL) and deprivation (K=3 or K=4) for all children (0-17 years in Mali
100.0
85.7
Deprivation/poverty rate in %
90.0
80.0
73.0
72.4
70.0
60.5
60.0
50.0
59.0
49.1
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
56.0
53.3
50.1
46.4
69.7
29.1
16.0
9.010.5
0.0
Deprived (K=3)
51.9
46.744.5
49.7
32.9
23.1
15.9
48.8
Monetary poor
28.1
In conclusion
• Not everybody who is poor is deprived
• Not everybody who is deprived is poor
• They mean different things
• They measure different things
 they may identify different people
EPRI
Conceptual clarity: 3 types of poverty
• MONETARY POVERTY
– Poverty measured with reference to a pre-defined
benchmark to minimum necessary
income/consumption
• DEPRIVATION (POVERTY)
– Poverty measured by missing essential basic needs
• SUBJECTIVE POVERTY
– self-assessed poverty/wellbeing/deprivation
WELLBEING
FINANCIAL
POVERTY
DEPRIVATION
POVERTY
EQUITY
SUBJECTIVE
POVERTY
Multidimensional Poverty ??
Not having
enough
resources to
pay for shelter,
food
etc.
shelter
clothing
Other
necessities
Defining deprivation: additional challenges
Other
necessities
• Define “other necessities”
• Select indicators and dimensions (and solve the
aggregation and weighting problems)
• Relevance of needs across life-stages: life cycle
approach
• Neither loose dimensionality
• Nor get lost in dimensions
EU-MODA vs. other approaches
1. EU-MODA uses a ‘child-centered approach’
2. EU-MODA adopts a ‘life-cycle approach’ with extensive
attention for overlaps in deprivations and poverty
3. EU-MODA builds on existing tools of multidimensional
poverty measurement (Bristol, Oxford OPHI, Marlier &
Guio)
4. EU-MODA helps to create profiles of deprived children
5. EU-MODA supports integrative approach to policy-making
(i.e., integration of sectors)
6. EU-MODA integrates monetary poverty analysis and
deprivation analysis
EU-MODA: (special case of CC-MODA
for low- and middle income countries)
• Data from the EU-SILC 2009: EU-27 plus NO and IS
–
–
Child-centred deprivation indicators from the Material Deprivation module
Deprivation is defined as lacking an item because the household cannot afford it or for any other
reason
• Four levels of analysis
–
–
–
–
Single deprivation
Multiple deprivation
Monetary poverty
Multiple deprivation and monetary poverty overlap
• Three age-groups
• National and comparative
• Three age groups
–
–
–
Pre-school age
School age
Aged 17-18
• National and international comparative
– analyses made for separate countries
– comparative analyses between countries or
groups of countries
EU-MODA: Dimensions of deprivation
Below minimum compulsory
school age
School age, under 16
Age 17-18
(excluding those under one)
• Nutrition
• Clothing
• Early childhood education
and care (ECEC)
• Child development
• Information
• Housing
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nutrition
Clothing
Educational resources
Leisure
Social
Information
Housing
•
•
•
•
•
•
Age 17-18: no data for BE, CZ, DK, FI, IS, NL, NO, SE, SI, UK due to high incidence of missing values
Clothing
Activity
Leisure and social
Healthcare access
Information
Housing
EU-MODA: Indicators of deprivation
• Nutrition
–
–
Fruit/vegetables once a day
One meal with meat once a day
• Clothing
–
–
Some new clothes
Two pairs of shoes
• ECEC / Educational resources / Economic activity
–
–
–
Pre-school: at least one hour a week in formal childcare
School age: School trips & Suitable place at home to study
Aged 17-18: Not in education, employment, or training (NEET)
EU-MODA: Indicators of deprivation
• Child development / leisure / social
–
–
Pre-school: Books at home; Games (outdoor, indoor); Social activities (celebrations, friends)
School-age:
•
•
–
Books at home; Games (outdoor, indoor); Social activities; Regular leisure activity – Leisure dimension
Celebrations on special occasions; Having friends round to play – Social dimension
Aged 17-18:
•
Social life; regular leisure activity
• Healthcare access (aged 17-18 only)
–
–
Unmet medical need
Unmet dental need
•
There was at least once occasion during the last 12 months when the person really needed
examination or treatment but did not have it for any reason.
EU-MODA: Indicators of deprivation
• Information
–
–
–
Computer
Internet
Mobile phone (aged 17-18 only)
• Housing
–
–
Overcrowding (Eurostat definition)
Water and sanitation
•
–
The dwelling lacks at least one of the following: a bath/shower for sole use of the household; an indoor
flushing toilet for sole use of the household; hot running water
Multiple housing problems
•
The dwelling suffers from at least one of the following: a leaking roof, damp roof/walls/foundation, rot
in window frames or floor; there is not enough day light coming through the windows.
MODA – Multiple Overlapping
Deprivation Analysis for children
EPRI
Belgium: headcount by number of simultaneous
deprivations; pre-school age
Greeceheadcount by number of simultaneanous
deprivations; pre-school age
Belgium Number of deprivations by migrant
status; pre-school age
Overlapping deprivation in education, nutrition
and clothing: Finland and Romania
The single framework: MODA
Multiple Overlapping Deprivation
Analysis
Encompassing:
-
Single indicator analysis
Single dimension analysis
Multidimensional deprivation counting
Multidimensional overlap analysis
Multidimensional poverty indices and their decomposition
Profiling in single deprivation and dimension analysis
Profiling in multidimensional overlap analysis
Overlap analysis and distributional analysis deprivation – mon. poverty
-
Focussed on children in current application but applicable to adults
EPRI
References
EU-MODA:
Chzhen, Y. (2013), ‘Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis for the European Union (EU-MODA) – Technical
Note’, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence, forthcoming.
De Neubourg C. and Y. Chzhen, (2013), Monitoring Child Poverty and Well-Being in the European Union –
Integrated Overlapping Deprivation and Poverty Analysis’, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence, forthcoming.
CC-MODA Technical Note:
De Neubourg, C., J. Chai, M. de Milliano, I. Plavgo, Z. Wei (2012), 'Cross-country MODA Study: Multiple
Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) - Technical note', Working Paper 2012-05, UNICEF Office of Research,
Florence.
Step-by-step guidelines to MODA:
De Neubourg, C., J. Chai, M. de Milliano, I. Plavgo, Z. Wei (2012), 'Step-by-Step Guidelines to the Multiple
Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA)', Working Paper 2012-10, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence.
MODA in the context of multidimensional poverty/deprivation measures:
De Neubourg, C., M. de Milliano, I. Plavgo (2013), 'Lost (in) dimensions', Working Paper - forthcoming, UNICEF
Office of Research, Florence, forthcoming.
MODA the basics:
De Neubourg, C., J. Chai, M. de Milliano, I. Plavgo, Z.Wei (2013), ‘The Challenge of Multidimensional Child
Deprivation Indicators: Reducing complexity without killing the multidimensionality; progress through Multiple
Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA)’, Working Paper – forthcoming, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence,
forthcoming.
Web-portal 2009
• www.unicef-irc.org/MODA
www.SPRIglobal.org