A New Framework to Identify the Ultra‐Poor Population in the Slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh

In this paper, the Sustainable Vulnerability Index (SuVI) is a new indicator that has been developed to precisely identify the poverty and vulnerability experienced by underprivileged communities living in urban areas. Current indices, such as the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) and modified livelihood vulnerability index (MLVI), often overlook key environmental and socioeconomic factors that shape urban poverty. Utilizing a household survey on the slum dwellers in Dhaka, this study finds slight agreement between MPI and MLVI (weighted kappa, k = 0.094, p ‐value = 0). Also, a slight agreement was found between SuVI and MPI (weighted kappa, k = −0.038, p ‐value = 0.222) and an almost agreement between SuVI and MLVI (weighted kappa, k = −0.068, p ‐value = 0.010). A 100 sample dataset implementation of SuVI achieved a 0.867 R 2 score. The SuVI can identify environmental and health‐related indicators, waterlogging, sanitation, nutrition, disaster exposure among the strongest determinants of ultra‐poverty, and are underrepresented in existing indices.