The Power of Multidimensional Poverty in Explaining Life Expectancy: Empirical Evidence from Cross-Sectional Data of 62 Developing Countries

Background: we examined whether multidimensional poverty index (mpi) explained variations in life expectancy (le) better than income poverty; and assessed the relative importance of mpi indicators in influencing le. methods: cross-sectional data from 62 developing countries were used to run several multivariate linear regressions. r2 was used to compare the powers of mpi with income-poverties (income poverty gaps [ipg] at 1.9 and 3.1 usd) in explaining le. results: adjusting for controls, both mpi (β =-0.245, p<0.001) and ipg at 3.1 usd (β=-0.135, p=0.044) significantly correlates with le, but not ipg at 1.9 usd (β=-0.147, p=0.135). mpi explains 12.1% of the variation in le compared to only 3.2% explained by ipg at 3.1 usd. the effect of mpi on le is higher on female (β=-0.210, p<0.001) than male (β=-0.177, p<0.001). the relative influence of the deprivation indictors on le ranks as follows (most to least): asset ownership, drinking water, cooking fuel, flooring, child school attendance, years of schooling, nutrition, mortality, improved sanitation, and electricity. conclusion: interventions to reduce poverty and improve le should be guided by mpi, not income poverty indices. such policies should be female-oriented and prioritized based on the relative influence of the various poverty depriva-tion indicators on le.