Understanding Multidimensional Poverty and the Impact of Clean Cooking

When people think of poverty, they often picture a lack of money. But poverty is not just about income; it affects many areas of life. Multidimensional Poverty is a term that describes these multiple, overlapping issues that keep people poor. By looking at poverty in this broader way, we can better understand the challenges people face and what it takes to truly improve their lives.

What is Multidimensional Poverty?

Multidimensional Poverty takes into account not just a lack of money, but also poor health, limited education, inadequate living standards, and lack of access to basic services. It shows how poverty can trap people in cycles of disadvantage across different aspects of life, making it harder to escape.

For example, someone might live in a household with no electricity, limited education, poor health care, and unsafe drinking water. Each of these issues makes it more difficult for that person to improve their situation, even if they earn a small income.

How is Multidimensional Poverty Measured?

To understand the extent of multidimensional poverty, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is used. This index measures three main areas, or "dimensions," of poverty, each with different indicators that show where people are struggling.

1. Health: This includes indicators like child mortality and nutrition. If a household has a child who has passed away or if any household members are undernourished, they are considered deprived in health.

2. Education: This dimension considers the number of years of schooling and whether children are attending school. If adults have had very few years of schooling or if children aren’t going to school, the household is deprived in education.

3. Living Standards: This includes access to clean water, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, and basic household items like beds, tables, or chairs. If a household lacks clean water, a safe place to go to the bathroom, or uses dangerous fuels for cooking, it is considered deprived in living standards.

Each of these indicators shows a specific area where families might be struggling. The MPI considers households "multidimensionally poor" if they experience deprivations in at least one-third of these indicators.

How Clean Cooking Relates to Multidimensional Poverty

One of the often-overlooked aspects of multidimensional poverty is access to clean cooking solutions. Around 2.5 billion people worldwide rely on fuels like wood, charcoal, and dung to cook their meals. In countries like India, millions of people still depend on these traditional, polluting fuels, which contributes to health problems, environmental damage, and economic limitations.

Health Impacts of Traditional Cooking Methods

Cooking with biomass fuels like wood or charcoal produces smoke and harmful gases. This indoor air pollution is linked to respiratory diseases, eye infections, and even heart problems. Women and children, who are often the ones cooking or staying indoors, are most at risk. The World Health Organization reports that household air pollution from cooking contributes to millions of premature deaths each year. Health issues related to cooking with biomass keep families trapped in poverty, as they spend time and money dealing with sickness instead of improving their income or education.

Time Poverty and Education

Collecting firewood or other biomass fuels can take hours each day. This is time that could be spent going to school, learning new skills, or working. For children, particularly girls, this often means missing out on education. For adults, it limits their ability to participate in income-generating activities, deepening the cycle of poverty.

Environmental Impact

Using wood and other biomass fuels for cooking contributes to deforestation and environmental degradation, which affects the land and water resources many communities depend on. Deforestation reduces the land’s ability to retain water, leading to poorer crop yields and food insecurity, which are also factors in multidimensional poverty.

How Clean Cooking Reduces Multidimensional Poverty

Switching to clean cooking solutions, like improved cookstoves or clean fuels (such as LPG or electricity), can help break these cycles of poverty. Here’s how:

1. Health Improvements: Clean cookstoves reduce indoor air pollution, leading to better respiratory health for women, children, and everyone in the household. Healthier families mean fewer medical expenses and more time and energy for work or school.

2. Time Savings: Clean cooking requires less time to prepare meals and, in many cases, no time to collect fuel. Families gain hours each day, which they can spend on education, work, or rest. This is especially important for women and girls who often handle the fuel collection and cooking tasks.

3. Economic Opportunities: By spending less on fuel and medical bills, households can save money. In addition, the clean cooking sector creates jobs, such as those for manufacturing, selling, and maintaining clean cookstoves.

4. Environmental Benefits: Clean cooking solutions reduce the need for firewood, helping to prevent deforestation and environmental degradation. A healthier environment supports agriculture and water resources, benefiting the community and reducing poverty in the long term.

Why Clean Cooking Should Be a Priority in Reducing Poverty

While clean cooking is a powerful way to reduce multidimensional poverty, it is often overlooked. Clean cooking programs don’t just improve health—they address multiple aspects of poverty all at once. Access to clean cooking helps families escape health, time, and economic deprivations that keep them poor.

To make a meaningful impact on multidimensional poverty, governments, NGOs, and private companies need to invest in clean cooking technology, provide subsidies, and increase public awareness. Supporting households in transitioning to clean cooking doesn’t just make their lives easier; it helps entire communities by creating healthier, more educated, and economically stable populations.

Multidimensional poverty is about more than money; it touches many areas of life. Clean cooking is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to address this type of poverty. By investing in clean cooking, we can improve health, save time, reduce environmental harm, and create new opportunities for families worldwide. Clean cooking isn’t just about what’s on the stove—it’s about transforming lives and breaking cycles of poverty for a healthier, more equitable future.