Multidimensional Poverty Measurement in Iran with Multiple Correspondence Analysis Method

This paper measures multidimensional poverty from 2004 to 2019. 13 ordinal categorical indicators in four dimensions of "economic welfare," "housing," "health," and "education" are used and to determine the weight of the indicators, the method of multiple correspondence analysis (MAC) is used. Based on these weights, a composite poverty indicator is calculated. With five types of poverty lines, including union criterion, intersection criterion, 60% median, first three deciles, and the absolute poverty line, poverty indicators are obtained cross-sectionally and in time series by urban and rural areas. The results show that multidimensional poverty is higher in rural areas than in urban areas. The Compensating power of poverty is also higher in urban areas than in rural areas. This means that urban households can better compensate for deprivation in one dimension by another. In the 16 years under study, the poverty trend is a convex downward trend that has become almost horizontal in the last years. The study of poverty of the provinces also shows that the provinces of Sistan & Baluchestan and Mazandaran have the highest and lowest headcount ratio of the poverty, respectively.