Moldova one of poorest countries in region - UNDP

Chisinau, 8 October /MOLDPRES/- The pandemic crisis is affecting the most vulnerable, and the negative effects are not yet fully revealed, notes the new values ​​of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, launched yesterday by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). According to him, the Republic of Moldova is positioned as one of the poorest countries in the region, with disparities between rural and urban areas in terms of access to education and services.

According to UNDP, the pandemic crisis will deepen inequalities and tighten the social exclusion of vulnerable groups in Moldova. The value of the Multidimensional Poverty Index for the Republic of Moldova is 0.004, according to the latest available data from 2012, included in the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (ISM), developed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Oxford Initiative on Poverty and Human Development ( OPHI).

The standard of living, followed by education and health, are the areas that contribute the most to the disparities. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova (NBS), the absolute poverty rate in 2018 was 23%, decreasing by 4.7 percentage points compared to 2017. At the same time, the extreme poverty rate was 8.7%.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, inequalities on certain dimensions are also deepening, especially for vulnerable groups. An in-depth socio-economic impact assessment by UNDP and UNFPA in 2020 finds that the pandemic has had an almost immediate negative impact on already vulnerable groups, such as women, poor households, but has also exposed other groups to new risks. The crisis is affecting not only income but also access to services and will have a long-term negative impact on all dimensions of sustainable human development. Prior to the crisis, Moldova lost on average about 10% of its human development potential due to various forms of inequality.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has eroded the progress of development in the world and we are still trying to understand its full impact. This year's Multidimensional Poverty Index reminds us of the need for a full picture of how the population is affected by poverty, who is affected and where they live, if we are to make progress and intervene with effective responses to the crisis", says Achim Steiner, UNDP administrator.

Although no full data are available on the impact of COVID-19 on MSP, the pandemic has exposed existing cracks in the social protection and education systems, as well as the vulnerability of workers around the world. As the report shows, these cracks are very deep in countries with higher levels of multidimensional poverty. For example, millions of children around the world did not attend school during the pandemic, but disruption of formal education was more prevalent in countries with higher ISM.

The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index examines the level and composition of multidimensional poverty in 109 countries, comprising 5.9 billion people.

Photo: UNDP