Evolution of the fuzzy-set approach to multi-dimensional poverty measurement

The spectrum of poverty measurements is wide and varies from purely monetary indicators to more or less sophisticated models based on non-monetary measures. The most traditional approach focuses on measuring monetary poverty, which includes conventional poverty analyses using information on household income or consumption expenditure, and more recently also on wealth. Measures of poverty that exceed the exclusive use of monetary indicators have been developed in different conceptual contexts, referring to different terms such as exclusion, inclusion or social cohesion, deprivation or ‘capability’ poverty. More complex and sophisticated models are also found in the literature, in order to obtain a comprehensive description of the various facets of a complex phenomenon, through a suitable synthesis of the associated elementary indicators. The map on the left displays the severe material deprivation (SMD) rate by geographical region, whereas the map on the right refers to the at-risk-of-poverty (AROP) rate.