Lines of sight: three ways to compare monetary and multidimensional poverty

Report

This report asks a question with major implications for poverty monitoring and policy: when we say poverty is falling, what exactly do we mean – and does the answer change depending on what we measure and how we measure progress? The report argues for a '4×3 framework' for measuring poverty both during the SDG reporting period and beyond 2030. Poverty should be considered using four measures: global monetary poverty, global multidimensional poverty, national monetary poverty and national multidimensional poverty. Trends in each should, where data permit, be viewed through three lenses: absolute change, relative change and change in the number of poor people. Absolute change based on incidence captures the percentage-point reduction in poverty each year; relative change captures the share of the distance travelled towards zero poverty; and change in the number of poor people explicitly counts the human lives affected. The report argues that each measure offers distinctive but complementary perspectives to support global advocacy and national policy design. Together, these perspectives can help motivate action by identifying and celebrating different types of progress towards the goal of ending poverty.

Authors: Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Reviewed (other)
• Publisher: Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI)
• Pages: 1-48
• Place of publication: Oxford, UK
• Publication date: 2026-10-14
• Language: English
• Keywords: global monetary poverty; global multidimensional poverty; national monetary poverty; absolute change; national multidimensional poverty; relative change; number of the poor; trends; subnational; 4x3 framework; post-2030 Agenda