Measuring Progress on Child Wellbeing in Lao PDR

The Government of Lao PDR, which is strongly committed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the implementation and achievement of the SDGs, presented the 2018 Voluntary National Reviews on the country’s efforts to achieve the 2030 Agenda at the High Level Political Forum of the United Nations. This demonstrates its strong determination to chieving the SDGs.

The Lao Social Indicator Survey (LSIS) II shows that the country has made significant progress on some key social indicators. To further deepen the understanding of the situation of children, the Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) report, titled SDGs and Children – Measuring Progress on Child Wellbeing in Lao PDR was conducted by the Centre for Development Policy Research (CDR) and UNICEF Country Office with technical support from the Social Policy Research Institute (SPRI). With this study, Lao PDR continues to be an international pioneer in prioritizing an understanding the situation of its children through evidence-based, child-sensitive analysis.

Two main concepts can be used to measure child poverty: monetary poverty and multidimensional poverty. A child is monetarily poor when the child lives in a household where total household consumption per adult equivalent is below the national monetary poverty line. On the other hand, a child is defined as multidimensionally poor if he/she is deprived in several dimensions of his/her well-being according to a defined threshold of poverty severity. The current analysis uses the UNICEF Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) methodology to describe and unpack the situation of multidimensional child poverty in Lao PDR, with focus to children’s lifecycle-specific and contextualized needs and rights. An understanding of children’s multidimensional poverty and deprivation complements existing knowledge on monetary poverty based on household income in Lao PDR based on international poverty lines.

This report, “SDGs and Children: Measuring Progress on Child Wellbeing in Lao PDR”, uses the Lao Social Indicator Survey (LSIS) II dataset released in June 2018, to analyse the unmet needs and rights of children under age 18 years in Lao PDR. While Lao PDR continues to be an international pioneer in prioritizing an understanding of the situation of its children through evidence-based, child-sensitive analysis, the MODA report shows that despite considerable progress, the majority of children age 0-17 years in Lao PDR are multidimensionally deprived, and they experience a high deprivation intensity. Only 12 percent of children experience no deprivation at all, 70 percent suffer from at least two deprivations and 50 percent of children are suffering from three or more deprivations at the same time. Stunted children have a higher rate and intensity of deprivation in all dimensions. At provincial level, the highest rates and intensity of multidimensional deprivation are concentrated in Savannakhet, Saravan, Sekong, and Xaysomboun. The lowest rates and
intensity are in Vientiane Capital.

This report also provides comprehensive analysis of linkages and status of implementation of other child related SDGs in the country (see the Table on SDG 1.2.2 and the linkages with other SDGs). These actions reflect Lao PDR’s commitment to the international Sustainable Development agenda as well as the national poverty reduction agenda, both components of national ambitions for LDC (Least Developed Countries) graduation.

The full report is available through UNICEF.