Is Ghana the  7th country with the lowest multidimensional poverty rate in Africa?

During a Youth Connect Programme at the Borteyman Sports Complex in Accra in the Greater Accra Region, the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP),  Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia claimed that Ghana is the seventh country with the lowest multidimensional poverty rate in Africa.

Dr. Mahamadu Bawumia outlined why he believes the NPP is the better choice to lead Ghana, based on its performance over the past eight years. He also unveiled his vision for job creation to transform the Ghanaian economy.

The NPP flagbearer claimed that “Ghana has the seventh lowest multidimensional poverty rate in Africa. The seventh lowest out of 54 countries in Africa. Multidimensional poverty, Ghana has the seventh lowest.”

In this report, Fact-Check Ghana has verified this claim and presents the facts below.

What is the Multidimensional Poverty Rate?

Multidimensional poverty considers the many overlapping deprivations that poor people experience. Rather than just considering monetary value, the multidimensional poverty rate considers other factors like access to health insurance, educational attainment, and economic power. 

According to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 1, No Poverty,  poverty has many dimensions because “its causes include unemployment, social exclusion, and high vulnerability of certain populations to disasters, diseases and other phenomena which prevent them from being productive.”

Per the demands of Goal 1, by 2030, at least 50% of poverty should be completely eradicated. For this reason, the multidimensional poverty index rate is significant in assessing countries’ progress towards attaining the goal. 

Measurement of MPI

In the case of Ghana, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) through its Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) produces reports on the population that are multidimensionally poor. 

“The Annual Household Income and Expenditure Survey (AHIES) is the first nationally representative high-frequency panel survey that provides quarterly data on multidimensional poverty. It is designed to provide disaggregated poverty statistics to support policy and planning, in line with the national development agendas to end poverty in all its forms.”

According to the report from the GSS on the multidimensional poverty index in Ghana, 41.3% of Ghanaians are multidimensionally poor as of the last quarter of 2023. The GSS in its computation and calculation of the multidimensional poverty index considered three dimensions; living conditions, health and education; across 12 indicators. The indicators for living conditions include cooking fuel, water, assets, housing, overcrowding, electricity, and toilet facilities. For education, the indicators are school attendance, school attainment, and school lag. Health is measured through nutrition and health insurance coverage.

These indicators for measuring multidimensional poverty vary from one country to the other. 

In light of that, the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) stated in its report that “generally, measurement of MPI is country-specific. Hence, dimensions and indicators used though comparable to the 2020 Ghana MPI may not be comparable to other countries’ Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).”

“Generally, measurement of MPI is country-specific. Hence, dimensions and indicators used though comparable to the 2020 Ghana MPI may not be comparable to other countries’ Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).”

Ghana Statistical Service

Aside from the data from the GSS, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)’s global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2024 provides insights on countries’ status regarding multidimensional poverty. 

The 2024 MPI put together by the UNDP and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative covers 112 countries, of which 18 countries have updated surveys compared to the 2023 round. 

The 2024 global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) utilizes the latest comparable data for 112 countries: 21 low-income, 47 lower-middle-income, 40 upper-middle-income, and 4 high-income countries.

According to the UNDP, the computation of global MPI relies on is only possible with individual-level data from multitopic household surveys such as Demographic Health Survey (DHS) and UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). The remaining surveys used in the UNDP’s works are national surveys with the same or similar content and questionnaires.

In essence, the team that put together the MPI suggests that it is difficult to even compare on a country-by-country basis. 

However, granted that the comparison is the case, the United Nations Development Programme 2024 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index  “Not all indicators were available for all countries, so caution should be used in cross-country comparisons. When an indicator is missing, weights of available indicators are adjusted to total 100 per cent.”

“Not all indicators were available for all countries, so caution should be used in cross-country comparisons. When an indicator is missing, weights of available indicators are adjusted to total 100 per cent.”

United Nations Development Programme

This makes Dr. Bawumia’s claim on Ghana’s multidimensional poverty index is misleading since country-by-country comparison is not acceptable.