Multidimensional Poverty Analysis: In Case of Jimma Zone, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

Poverty is acknowledged as multidimensional problem due to the fact that where there is poverty there are various deprivations experienced by poor people in their daily lives such as inadequate living standards, deprived health, and lack of education, among others. Employing the Alkire and Foster method of multidimensional poverty measures and the binary logistic regression model, this study examined determinants, incidence, severity and spatial dimension of multidimensional poverty in Jimma zone of south west Ethiopia. Results showed that multidimensional poverty among rural households is too severe (83.5%) while living standard dimension contributed most to the incidence and severity of multidimensional poverty among the given households. In the study area 82 % of the people are multidimensionally poor and the poor are underprivileged by 49 % of the weighted pointers. Sex of the household head, educational level, household size, working sector and place of resident significantly influenced multidimensional poverty. The study recommends implementation of relevant interventions counter to marginalization of women headed household in access to resource, and strengthening of incentives aimed at inspiring human capital development.