Joint Press Release: Royal Government of Cambodia, Ministry of Planning & UNDP in Cambodia

October 7, 2018

Phnom Penh, 08 October 2018 –Ms. Pauline Tamesis, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and H.E. Mr. Chhay Than, Senior Minister, Minister of Planning, met on Friday, 5th October 2018 to clarify the poverty rate in Cambodia that was published in the Phnom Penh Post on September 26th, 2018 – regarding the measurement based on the multidimensional poverty concept. This was in response to misleading media reports on this poverty rate.

They both agreed and affirmed that the proportion of people living below the poverty line in Cambodia is 13.5% which is measured based on​​ the consumption expenditure concept using the 2014 data from the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey. Moreover, they agreed that Cambodia has achieved tremendous success in poverty reduction over the last two decades.

The multidimensional poverty measures have not been adopted by the Royal Government of Cambodia as the official approach for poverty estimation in Cambodia, nor has UNDP Cambodia produced any such data.  Rather, these data are estimated by an independent office, the Human Development Report Office based within UNDP Headquarters in New York, on an annual basis for all countries.  These measures are not comparable with consumption expenditure poverty and offer a separate and complementary metric.

In the future, the poverty rate in Cambodia, measured based on the consumption expenditure concept using data from the Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey, will continue to be the official poverty figure of  the Royal Government of Cambodia.

The Senior Minister and UNDP Resident Representative closed their meeting by affirming their joint commitment to eradicating poverty in all its forms as set out in the Cambodia Sustainable Development Goals.