The failure to fulfil the first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 1) on poverty eradication is a cause for concern for many nations globally as 2030 draws near. The United Nations Development Programme’s 2023 Global Sustainable Development Report underscored the derailment of the goal of eradicating poverty by 2030 due to among other issues the current geopolitical tensions, the remnants of covid-19 pandemic and the climate change issues. The SDG1 targets to eradicate all forms or poverty ever of reducing at least half the proportion of people of all genders and ages living in all poverty in all dimensions according to national definitions ([67]). However, the 2013 Global Sustainable Goal report noted that if the present patterns persist, around 575 million people will remain in a state of extreme poverty, and only one-third of countries will be able to reduce their national poverty rate by half by 2030 ([67]). The convergence of multiple crises, including disasters such as COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, and climate change, has resulted in a significant increase in the number of individuals living in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as surviving on less than US$2.15 per person per day in 2017 purchasing power parity ([69]). In 2022, about 712 million people globally were in extreme poverty an increase of 23 million from 2019 ([70]). Globally 1.1 billion people out of 6.1 billion people live in acute multidimensional poverty in 110 countries ([67]).

There are indications that in the last 30 years, the world witnessed a dramatic reduction in poverty, with the number of people living in extreme poverty falling from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 729 million in 2015 ([38]). China and India have been driving this positive trajectory with approximately 1.1 billion people moved from extreme poverty between 1990 and 2022 ([27]; [67]). Generally, East Asia and the Pacific regions have been recording a significant decrease in the proportion of people living in extreme poverty from 53% in 1990 to 4% in 2022 ([27]). Although other regions in the world are making significant strides in poverty alleviation, other regions are facing challenges especially the sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia ([67]).

Approximately 85% of the world’s most multidimensional poor people are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia region, with 534 million in sub-Saharan Africa and 389 million are in South Asia ([67]). [27] noted that Sub-Saharan Africa had 13% of the people living in extreme poverty in 1990 and in 2022, the region had reached to 62% ([59]; [49]). The greatest increase in extreme poverty happened in countries such as Madagascar, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), outside of Africa the notable increase were witnessed in Syria and Yemen between 1990 and 2022 ([27]). Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 19 out of the 22 nations with the highest number of people living in multidimensional poverty ([67]). According to the [27], Sub-Saharan Africa has 13 out of 15 countries with the highest increase in the number of people in extreme poverty.

From the evidence, poverty is increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty in Africa is attributed to a combination of climate change-related disasters, economic challenges and conflicts, which together create a complex dilemma ([22]; [58]) In Africa, poverty is linked to historical legacies, political issues, and social inequality. Colonialism, with its primary focus on resource exploitation, resulted in the creation of fragmented communities and extractive economic systems that continue to perpetuate poverty in Africa ([43]).

The [68] reported that the world disaster forces an average of 26 million people into poverty every year globally. Extreme disasters can cause losses of as much as US$520 billion per year ([68]). At the same time economic challenges in sub-Saharan Africa has resulted in sluggish economic growth compared to other regions. According to the [72], the projected Africa’s economic growth rate for 2023 was 2.5%, which is a decline from the previous year’s rate of 3.6% which is lower than other regions such as China which was expected to grow by 5.2%. Recently the COVID-19 pandemic further dampened the hope for achieving the goal of poverty reduction by pushing between 119 - 124 million people into poverty ([24]). Conflicts contribute to poverty, and poverty can create conflict ([50]). According to [67], the Russian war in Ukraine has resulted in increase in food and energy costs, consequently forcing about 71 million people into poverty. Violent conflicts destroy critical infrastructure, assets, production, social networks creating unemployment, reducing human development ([42]). World bank further noted that by 2050 climate changed induced disasters is likely to force 200 million people to be internally displaced and push 130 million people into poverty ([68]). With achieving SDG1 and its targets becoming more elusive, it is important for poverty debate to continue guided by comprehensive conceptualization of this multidimensional phenomenon.

Amartya Sen, the economist who won the Nobel Prize in 2001, is credited with developing the capability approach. The approach conceptualises development as the state of having freedom, while poverty is seen as the state of lacking skills ([64]). According to the capability approach, an individual is considered poor if they are unable to achieve or possess the things that they value ([64]). The capability approach argues that assessments based solely on money fail to take into account whether individuals are actually able to utilise their incomes and resources to pursue their desired goals or lifestyles ([40]). The capability approach prioritises individuals’ opportunities to utilise resources in order to pursue activities or states of being that they find valuable, rather than focusing on the resources themselves or the pleasure derived from them.

In 1997, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) accepted Sen’s method of comprehending poverty, which was then transformed into the Human Poverty Index. Subsequently, it was called the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) ([40]; [51]). The MPI is constructed upon the concept of poverty as a state of lacking choices and opportunities to lead a healthy lifestyle. It is assessed through three dimensions: health, education, and living standards. The objective of this article is to assess the trends, gaps and opportunities of using the capability approach in understanding poverty. This is done by analysing existing scientific literature through bibliometrics.

This study answers the following questions

1) What are the global trends in the scientific literature on the capability approach and poverty?

2) What gaps and opportunities exist in scientific literature on understanding poverty through the capability approach?

Poverty is conceptualised broadly in two ways as lack or shortage of commodities mostly in comparison to the standard of living of others in a particular society (relative poverty) or to a universal measure of adequate provision (absolute poverty) ([40]). Although, shortage of income has been conflated with inability to meet basic needs, research suggest that meeting basic needs also depends on socioeconomic status and other factors. Since 1960’s poverty has been conceptualised differently as shown in the Table 1.

Table 1. Conceptualisation of poverty since 1960’s.

Author, (2024).

Since 1990’s, poverty has been increasingly viewed as the lack of capability which is anchored on the Capability Approach. This review seeks to understand the development of literature on poverty through the capability approach since 1995 to 2023.

This review study used the bibliometric methodology. The bibliometric methodology applies the quantitative techniques on bibliometric data, analyse the connections between different research components by summarising the bibliometric and intellectual structure of the field ([28]; [17]). Bibliometric methodology was chosen as it provides for a performance analysis which includes publication-related metrics, citation-related metrics, citation-and publication-related metrics and science mapping which included citation analysis, co-citation analysis, bibliometric coupling, co-word analysis and co-authorship analysis ([28]). Scopus database is the source of the data for this study. Scopus is the regarded as the largest abstract indexing database as such it helps in minimising exclusion error or overlooking relent papers ([9]; [3]). Scopus database has an advanced search option which is important for accurate search in a broad topic such as poverty ([2]). The methodology follows the five steps proposed which involves, determination of the research terms, selection of the databases, criteria for search, selection of data analysis and visualisation software and lastly analysis and results as shown in Figure 1 below.

Source: (Author 2024).

Figure 1. Methodological scheme of bibliometrics analysis.

Between 1995 and 2023, there were 1004 documents that met search criteria outlined above on poverty through the lenses of capability approach. The annual growth of studies on poverty through the capability approach is 17.75. This growth trend reflects the growing discussions and discourse around poverty. Poverty has become a subject of discussion in recent alongside topics such as disasters, climate change, food crisis ([74]). The review shows that amongst 1676 authors. About 22% of the documents are single-authored documents have contributed to the studies on capability approach and poverty. This means that in more than 88% of the documents multiple authors are involved. International collaboration rate on the topic of the capability approach and poverty is 18.23%. (Table 2)

Table 2. Statistics about the research data.

Author, (2024).

This study was carried out to show trends, gaps and opportunities in understanding poverty through the capability approach lenses. Various theoretical lenses are used to understand poverty and the approaches have evolved over time. [25], noted that they theoretical approaches have evolved from a narrow focus on income to a multidimensional concept that encompasses economic, social and cultural considerations. Table 9 gives a brief description of some dominant theories and approaches used to understand poverty.

The capability approach which was developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum redefines poverty as a capability deprivation rather than only an income issue. It offers a framework for understanding poverty further than conventional economic indicators ([48]). The capability approach highlights the importance of individual opportunities and freedoms and more important for understanding wellbeing concepts such as poverty ([60]). By focusing on the capabilities and functionings what people can do or be the approach provides a more nuanced way of comprehending poverty ([13]). The approach offers a multi-dimensional perspective that encompasses other wellbeing aspects such as health, education and employment ([13]; [6]). Poverty is therefore not viewed as just the lack of resources but some form of unfairness that limit individual’s opportunities and freedoms ([61]; [60]).

Table 9. Lenses used to study poverty.

Author (2024).

This study shows growth in number of publications using capability approach to understand poverty since 2005 mostly in developing countries. However, Africa contributed only eight percent of the global output. The growth of CA and poverty studies brought with it the multidimensional perspective. This increase could also be attributed to the general increase access to internet in those years ([73]). The growth could also be attributed to scholars such as Ingrid Robeyns who produced the most cited article (1661 citations), titled The Capability Approach: a “theoretical survey” in 2005, published by the Journal of Human Development. In the [55] paper, the theoretical survey of capability approach is presented in a multidisciplinary and accessible way. The Journal of Human Development and Capability started being the sources of the topic in 2010 it has grown so fast due to the Human Development and Capability Association. Furthermore, work by [7], titled ‘Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement popularised the capability approach in understanding poverty. Published in the Journal of Public economics, the article proposed a new methodology of measuring multidimensional poverty. The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) of the University of Oxford work on Multidimensional Index could have contributed to the increasing using Capability approach thinking in poverty related studies. Sabina Alkire is based at the University of Oxford and Ingrid Robeyns is based at the Utrecht University and this could explain the dominance of the UK universities and the European Universities in using the capability approach.

While significant work has been done on the theoretical concepts and unpacking of the original work of Amartya Sens and Martha Nussbaum was the focus in early 2000s.The there is growing literature on the application of the capability approach as shown by the work of production over time, number of other keywords plus that are shown in this analysis. Capability approach is not only used to understand poverty, but it also used in gender, human development, justice, welfare, inequality and education. The emphasis is the interplay between poverty and other social factors such as disability, age, gender and exposure to disaster risks and highlighting how factor exacerbate limit to capabilities ([31]). In the developed world like the United Kingdom, using the capability approach in study poverty helped to reveal different poverty profiles compared to income and resource-based approaches. It also helped to reveal the relationship between capabilities and spatial deprivations ([34]; [13]). The capability approach provides important insights for political debate and for policymakers to understand poverty more broadly and address it though holistic and inclusive social protection ([34]). Despite this significant growth in literature, keyword analysis shows that application of capability in poverty reduction and alleviation is very low.

In developing continents such as Asia, application of the capability approach has highlighted the possibility that urban poverty maybe underestimated if only income-based dimensions are assessed ([57]). In Africa, South Africa is ranked amongst countries with high productivity in this topic. The studies tend to focus on specific issues such as disability and poverty ([31]). In disability and poverty study in South Africa, [31] concluded that using the capability approach lens helped to demonstrate the ways in which poverty and disability interact to limit people’s capabilities. The studies tend to focus on specific groups of people such as student, youth and women with broad issues such as poverty, social exclusion and social justice. The University of Free State focus has been on notably on education for example the article by [56], which focused on student poverty in South African Universities using the capability approach. The authors argue that conceptualisation of student poverty from a financial perspective is narrow and promoted the use of multidimensionality to understand poverty. [16], explored issues of social justice to diaconia in South Africa to deal with economically uneven South Africa. While a study in Benin, Senegal and Togo focused on energy justice work for women, to explore energy interventions that could enhance women capabilities and well-being. In Zimbabwe, ([23]), looked at the capabilities of young street people in Harare living in poverty and social exclusion. In the developing world there seem to be more of the application of capability approach in different contexts although there are fewer studies compared to other parts of the world. Although a lot of literature has been produced on understanding poverty through the capability approach lenses there are gaps in more nuanced understanding on specific groups such as urban areas and informal settlements.

This analysis provides a general overview of the global scholarship on understanding poverty through capability lens. It shows that it is not only the original work of philosophers, Amartya Sen and Matha Nusbaum ([64]) and [45] that shaped understanding poverty through capability approach perspective. The original work on capability approach provided the normative framework on which several scholars built on. For example, the theoretical survey by ([55]) work on social justice ([47]), and development of the Multidimensional Index by ([7]) inspired the use of capability approach in understanding poverty between 1995 to 2023. Understanding poverty as a capability deprivation and need for multidimensionality perspective seem to be gaining some momentum around the world because of the Journals such as the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities.

Mapping publication trends, leading authors, regional contributions shows that although literature is increasing, it is unevenly distributed. Europe and North America dominate the field and Africa’s contribution is still limited despite poverty challenges. This research output disparity reflects weak research networks, limited research funding in the global south.

This study recommends the need to strengthen global south’s scholarship that will generate knowledge to practitioners how effectively deal with poverty in their contexts. More research initiatives should support Africa, Asia and the South America through collaborative research networks. More research should also focus on poverty reduction and other solutions as current literature is dominated by theoretical aspects of capability approach.