Sudan’s first official Multidimensional Poverty Survey has revealed that 82.8% of the population was living in severe deprivation even before the outbreak of the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023. The findings highlight the scale of the challenges the country faced before descending into its worst humanitarian crisis in modern history.
According to the survey, released by the Central Bureau of Statistics, Sudan’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) stood at 0.441, while the intensity of poverty reached 53.3%, meaning that poor people were deprived, on average, of more than half of the indicators used to measure poverty.
For the first time, the survey adopted the Multidimensional Poverty methodology, which measures deprivation across health, education, living standards, and employment through 14 indicators, rather than relying solely on income levels.
The findings showed that limited access to healthcare was the most significant dimension of poverty, affecting 97.3% of the population. It was followed by inadequate sanitation services (86.9%) and lack of clean cooking fuel (64.9%), making the health sector the largest contributor to Sudan’s overall poverty index.
Geographically, the highest poverty rates were recorded in the Darfur and Kordofan regions. Central Darfur ranked as the poorest state, followed by East Darfur, South Kordofan, West Kordofan, and South Darfur. In contrast, Khartoum State and the Northern State recorded the lowest poverty levels. However, the report warned that conditions in these states remain fragile and that large segments of their populations could quickly fall into poverty if exposed to further shocks.
The survey also revealed a widespread prevalence of severe multidimensional poverty. More than three-quarters of the populations in East Darfur and Central Darfur live in extreme multidimensional poverty, while the rate exceeds 70% in South Kordofan, West Kordofan, and South Darfur, underscoring the country’s deep regional development disparities.
The Central Bureau of Statistics stated that the survey, conducted in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), provides the last baseline assessment of poverty before the war and will serve as a key reference for measuring the conflict’s impact on poverty and development in the years ahead.
