Gauging
levels
of
welfare
using
data
on
income
and
expenditure
is
informative
yet
limited
and
can
be
enhanced
by
including
non
-
money
-
metric
measures.
Nationally
representative
data
sets
from
1993
and
2010
-
2011
which
cover
a
broad
set
of
domains
are
used
to
calculate
a
multidimensional
poverty
index
(MPI)
for
each
year.
This
paper
calculates
these
indices
and
uses
them
to
assess
trends
in
multidimensional
poverty
in
South
Africa
over
the
post
-
apartheid
period.
From
1993
to
2010
MPI
poverty
fell
by
29
percentage
points
from
37%
to
8%.
During
this
time
period,
the
level
of
severe
MPI
poverty
also
dropped
substantially
from
17%
of
the
population
in
1993
to
just
over
1%
in
2010.
Not
only
did
the
incidence
and
intensity
of
multidimensional
poverty
fall
significantly,
but
the
average
distance
from
the
multidimensional
poverty
line
across
all
dimensions
also
decreased
over
the
period.
These
declines
in
multidimensional
poverty
are
notably
stronger
than
the
estimated
declines
in
money
-
metric
poverty,
which
are
also
estimated
and
compared
for
the
post-apartheid
period.