The approach of this report is multi dimensional in nature, which means it considers additional poverty indicators alongside the traditional income approach. Therefore the report highlights some of the important aspects of human needs and the extent to which the population are lacking in them. These basic human needs include health, education and living conditions. In this regard, the poor are those who are deprived in health, education and a set of living conditions indicators. This analysis shows that multidimensional poverty generally reduced between 2007 and 2014 and much of this reduction happened in the rural areas. At the provincial level, the Northern-Western Province proved to be the poorest of all provinces. In 2014 the people were deprived of energy, which remains as one of the highest living conditions indicators. This means many households relied on unclean energy such as charcoal, wood and cow dung to meet their cooking energy needs. The biggest contributor to acute poverty in Zambia – turned out to be the deprivation in or lack of secondary education according to this report. Many people, especially those heading households in Zambia have not attained secondary education. Multidimensional poverty is currently being used in a number of countries around the world as a basis for formulating poverty reduction policies. The approach can become a useful tool in understanding other aspects of poverty in Zambia like never before.
