Children’s experience of multidimensional deprivation: relationship with household monetary poverty

Using longitudinal data set from Young Lives this paper aims to measure multidimensional childhood deprivation in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. In this paper we employ Alkire and Foster (2011) counting approach to estimate multidimensional childhood deprivation. We use household and child related data of 975 children in two different age points (12 and 15 year) and seek to establish the fact that childhood deprivation is not confined only to monetary poor households. Our analysis is based on 15 indicators cutting across 4 major dimensions – education, health, housing quality and subjective well-being. Comparison has been made between households who have been consistently in the bottom most quartile (chronically poor) and top most quartile (least poor) of monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) in the two rounds of survey conducted in 2006 and 2009. Amongst the child related indicators, schooling, ability to read and write, thinness and nutrition have emerged in general as important contributors towards children's total deprivation. Overall child deprivation is higher for chronically poor households across all the indicators, as compared to those belonging to the least poor in our sample. However, 95% of children belonging to least poor households face one or more deprivation at age 12 and 15. The estimates have also been decomposed by rural and urban location as well as by gender. Rural children in chronically poor as well as least poor households experience higher deprivation which remains static across rounds. Boys at age 12 are more deprived than girls in the chronically poor households, though boys show substantial decrease in deprivation over time. An ordered probit model also confirms that rural children are significantly more likely to be deprived than urban children, though we do not find significant difference between boys and girls