Morocco is listed among 25 countries that have successfully reduced their poverty index by half in 15 years, as indicated by a United Nations report. However, despite this, 14% of the population still live in “multidimensional poverty,” and 10.9% are vulnerable to it.
This is included in the latest update of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, covering 110 countries, by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at Oxford University.
The report places Morocco among the countries that have halved the global index’s value within 15 years, indicating that rapid progress can be made.
The report stated that this list of countries reduced the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index by half in short periods ranging from 4 to 12 years, demonstrating the feasibility of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to halve poverty according to national definitions within 15 years.
The report emphasized that it’s important to consider the Multidimensional Poverty Index in the context of national poverty definitions, as the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index evaluates multidimensional poverty using the same methodology.
According to the 2023 release, 1.1 billion people out of 6.1 billion (a little over 18%) live in severe multidimensional poverty in 110 countries.
The same source states that Sub-Saharan Africa (534 million) and South Asia (389 million) are home to five out of every six poor people.
According to the report, nearly two-thirds of all the poor (730 million people) live in middle-income countries, making work in these countries vital to reducing global poverty.
Although low-income countries only make up 10% of the population covered by the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, these are the places where 35% of all the poor live.
Children under the age of 18 represent half of the poor people in the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (566 million). The rate of poverty among children is 27.7%, while it is 13.4% among adults.
Poverty mainly affects rural areas, with 84% of all the poor living in rural areas, which are poorer than urban areas in all regions of the world.