August 19: Although the government has been working with development partners for poverty alleviation, government data show that around 5 million Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.

A report on multidimensional poverty shows that a large number of Nepali citizens are below the poverty line.

According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster  Survey (MICS) conducted by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) in 2019, 17.4 percent of Nepalis still fall under the multidimensional poverty line.

The report which was published on Wednesday (August 18) states that 28 percent of population living in rural areas fall below the multidimensional poverty line while 12.3 percent of population in the urban areas fall under the same category.

Considering the age group, the report states that 28 percent of children and 51 percent of adoloscents fall under the multidimensional poverty line.

Karnali Province is the most backward province in terms of poverty with 39.5 percent of population under the multidimensional poverty line. Population-wise, Province 2 has the maximum number of people under the poverty line. According to the report, 1.29 million people in the province live below the multidimensional poverty line.

The report states that there has been no improvement in poverty alleviation despite the government and non-government organisations spending huge amount of money to achieve this target.

Multidimensional poverty index is calculated on the basis of 10 indices related to health, education and living standard. All three categories have equal weightage while determining multidimensional poverty.