We assess how living conditions (multidimensional well-being), educational aspirations and effective access to higher education are related in three middle-income countries: India, Peru and Vietnam. 

1. The ability to aspire to higher education is present among individuals who experienced low multidimensional well-being during childhood (group Q1 in Figure 8), although at lower rates than among those with higher multidimensional well-being in childhood in the countries studied (group Q4 in Figure 8).

2. As multidimensional well-being during childhood improves, both the proportion of people who develop high educational aspirations and those who ultimately realise them increases.

3. Most children in the lowest well-being group who aspire to pursue higher education fail to translate these aspirations into actual achievements. 

Monetary, multidimensional, and subjective poverty are positively correlated. However, they do not consistently identify the same individuals as poor. This means that relying on a single poverty measure provides an incomplete picture of who is poor and why. To address this problem, we developed the Multi-Spatial Poverty Index (MSPI) , which captures the joint burden of these poverty forms.

• 13.4% of Peruvians experience all three forms of poverty simultaneously.

• 25.6% experience at least two forms.

• Some groups experience poverty in only one space—for example, 4.9% are only monetarily poor, 16.2% only multidimensionally poor, and 7.9% only subjectively poor.

• A person is identified as multi-spatially poor if they experience at least two out of three forms of poverty simultaneously. 39% of Peru's population is multi-spatially poor. In the rural highlands, this figure rises to 76.7% .

The MSPI provides a tool for: 

• Identifying the most vulnerable populations (those experiencing multiple poverty forms).

• Informing territorially targeted interventions based on which poverty form contributes most in each region.

• Promoting intersectoral coordination among institutions responsible for different aspects of poverty.

This study puts people—and what they value—at the center of poverty measurement. By building an individual-level multidimensional poverty index based on Peruvians' own valuations and self-assessed poverty, it reveals that 24% of adults experienced multidimensional poverty in 2018, with stark disparities across rural, indigenous, and older populations. The findings challenge conventional poverty measures and call for more inclusive, value-sensitive approaches to both measurement and policy.

• In 2018, approximately 24% of Peruvians aged 18 or older lived in multidimensional poverty.

• The average intensity of poverty was 43% , meaning the poor experienced deprivations in about 5 out of 12 dimensions simultaneously.

• Surprisingly, no statistically significant gender gap was found—contrary to similar studies in other countries. Possible explanations include survey design (only one respondent per household) and the need for more gender-sensitive indicators.