Figure 12 plots the share of each dimension in the household deprivation score for MPI-poor
households across the full range of deprivation depth. This score is each household's own measure
of how deprived it is overall, on the same scale used to determine whether a household is MPI-poor in
the first place and differs from intensity (A) in Section 5.2, which is an average of this score across all
poor households in a state or region. Although average intensity is similar across states and regions,
it varies considerably among individual households, and it is this household-level variation that drives
the compositional shifts examined below.
Figure 12
Dimensional composition of MPI (by household deprivation score)
Figure 12. Dimensional composition by household deprivation score
Among MPI-poor households, education’s share rises, living standards’ share falls and health’s share remains broadly stable
Education
Health
Living standard
Share of household deprivation score
Education 9%
41%
Health 42%
39%
Living standard 49%
20%
0.33
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
0.90
0.93
Household deprivation score
Source: PPS 2025 (UNDP)
Living standards is the dominant dimension at the lower end of the deprivation distribution, accounting
for around 49 percent of the deprivation score for households with minimal poverty, and remaining
substantial throughout the deprivation range. As deprivation deepens, however, living standards’
share falls steadily, reaching around 20 percent for the most deprived households. Education runs
in the opposite direction: its share starts at around nine percent among less-deprived households
and rises to around 41 percent the most deprived. The two dimensions cross at around a deprivation
score of 0.73, at which point education’s share overtakes living standards as the largest share. Health
remains comparatively stable throughout, declining only modestly from around 42 percent among
less-deprived households to around 39 percent among the most deprived.
This may appear to conflict with Section 5.2, where living standards' share was highest in the states and
regions where survival-related deprivations dominate (Rakhine, Kayah, Chin, Kachin and Ayeyarwady),
several of which also carry the highest MPI scores. The two findings operate on different axes and
are not in tension. Section 5.2 reflects context: states/regions with weaker infrastructure and service
environments show a high living-standards share across most of their poor households, regardless
of how deep each household's own deprivation is, because baseline living-standards deficits are
widespread there. Figure 12 reflects sequence: within any household, in any state or region, living
standards is typically the first dimension to bind, and education becomes a larger share only as
L AYE R S O F DE P R I VAT I O N : M u l t i di m en si on a l Pov er t y i n M y anmar
39
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents