The poverty that Sudan experiences is represented by the measurement of some

indicators by the UNDP Human Developments Reports. Some of these indicators include, the

Human Development Index (HDI), Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), and the Planetary

pressures-adjusted HDI (PHDI). The HDI measures the long-term progress of human

development in a country. A steady increase in the HDI of Sudan was reported from 1990 to

2016. However, it was followed by a decline to 0.508, placing the country in the Low human

development category. This means that the country is not suitable for human development

characterized with long and healthy life, access to basic knowledge, and decent/acceptable

quality of life. The MPI measures the poverty experience of the citizens of a country in terms of

how left behind they are in terms of years of schooling, nutrition, child mortality, housing, etc.

The UNDP found that Sudan has a very high MPI value, placing it on top 20, that experiences

poverty when looked at the mentioned factors. Specifically, Sudan’s MPI score is driven by poor

nutrition, as well as children access to education. Lastly, the PHDI measures human development

while considering the planetary pressures, or the environmental effects. It was found that Sudan

has a PHDI score of 0.480, this low score is a result of having low levels of human development

despite being a country with less negative impact on the environment as indicated by carbon

dioxide per capita production of only 0.4 tons (vs. the world average of 4.3 tons). (Human

Development Insights, 2022)

The gender gap in terms of seats in the parliament, population with secondary education,

and labor force participation rate, decreased for Sudan from 1990 to 2021. This gave Sudan a

low Gender Inequality Index score of only 0.465. However, despite this good performance of the

country to promote gender equality, it remains categorized as a poor country due to its

performance in the other indices. (Human Development Insights, 2022) Additionally, the poverty
rate increased from 55.4% to 55.9% from 2020 to 2021, accompanied with a very low GDP

growth of only 2.5% in 2022. (Sudan Economic Outlook, 2022) Sudan’s physical location is one

of the key contributors to its poverty. Being positioned in the Sahara Desert, the country lacks

access to essential natural resources, while being exposed to harsh environmental conditions.

(Sudan - Poverty and wealth, n.d.) Given its low environmental impact as indicated by the PHDI,

it wouldn’t hurt the more developed countries to extend help to Sudan. Particularly, first-world

countries that experiences good HDI scores but contributing a large amount in the global carbon

emissions. Especially when poor countries like Sudan, are the ones experiencing the harsh

effects of global warming.

 Works Cited

UNDP. 2022. Human Development Insights. Human Development Reports. (Accessed through:

hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/SDN)

Sudan Economic Outlook. 2022. African Development Bank Group. (Accessed through:

www.afdb.org/en/countries/east-africa/sudan/sudan-economic-outlook)

Sudan – Poverty and wealth. n.d. Encyclopedia of the Nations. (Access through:

www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Africa/Sudan-POVERTY-AND-

WEALTH.html#:~:text=Sudan%20is%20one%20of%20the,for%20the%20poor%20life

%20conditions.)