Poverty is most commonly quantified in relation to the income and expenditure of an individual, household or group of people.
More developed approaches to poverty measurement take into account the social wage, which can include state provision of subsidies and services, such as water or housing, at reduced or no cost.
In 2000 Statistics SA published a path-breaking study, which extended the definition of poverty to include "the denial of opportunities and choices most basic to human development to lead a long, healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent standard of living, freedom, dignity, self-esteem and respect".
Building on this approach, a team of academics and researchers drawn from Stats SA, Oxford University and the Human Sciences Research Council has developed an approach to the measurement of poverty in South Africa that takes into account income and material deprivation, employment deprivation, health deprivation, education deprivation and the quality of the environment in which people live.
The team's work is in a strong international tradition, which defines deprivation as "unmet needs" across different aspects of social and economic life, not just needs of an income or expenditure nature.
The first report of this team, titled The Provincial Indices of Multiple Deprivation for South Africa, was recently released. This report and the data sets accompanying it provide ward-level information about deprivation. A ward-level index of multiple deprivation has been created for each province using data from the 2001 population census. This enables wards within each province to be set alongside one another, to see how they compare in terms of deprivation.
The income and material deprivation domain captures people who live in a low-income household, that is, where the income is below 40 percent of the national mean equivalent household income. It also captures people in a household without a refrigerator and those with neither a television nor a radio.
The health deprivation domain identifies areas with relatively high rates of people who die prematurely. It includes age and gender standardisation.
The education deprivation domain determines areas where historical educational disadvantage is greatest. This is done by describing proportions of the working-age population with no schooling at secondary level or above.
Finally, the living environment deprivation domain catalogues the quality of aspects of the immediate environment that affect the quality of day-to-day life. This field takes into account people living in a household without piped water on the plot or within 200m; without a pit latrine or flush toilet; people without the use of electricity; people without access to a telephone; and people living in a shack or a crowded household.
Each provincial index of multiple deprivation is constructed using 13 indicators and provides a relative picture of deprivation. Even the wards that rank as least deprived in a province will contain some deprived people.
Together with local knowledge of conditions, these indices will allow for better targeting of service provision and poverty reduction programmes.
The Provincial Indices of Multiple Deprivation for South Africa is accompanied by a technical report, which contains details about methodological techniques. It includes maps of each province showing the multiple deprivation indices at ward level, as well as spreadsheets containing the ward-level data for each province.
Multiple deprivation indices represent a considerable advance in the way poverty is conceptualised and measured. Proper use can increase the impact of poverty alleviation programmes and sharpen the focus in delivery of services.
This is expressed in the hope of Oxford University's Professor Noble, who led the research team, that the indices and subsequent work "will contribute to South Africa's evidence base to inform policy making and delivery".