In 1992, Halleröd undertook a study looking at which aspects of Swedish standards of living were seen as necessities and those who could not afford these items. The table below gives a summary of the findings (final sample size 793 persons).

From this data set, Halleröd developed the Proportional Deprivation Index (PDI). In the consensual method as developed by Mack and Lansley (see ‘How poor is too poor? Defining poverty’), only items which more than 50 per cent of the population identified as necessities are used as deprivation indicators, what Halleröd calls a Majority Needs Index (MNI). In the PDI all items from the preliminary list are included, but each item is given a weight that is the proportion of the population identifying it as a necessity. Halleröd compared the results using an MNI with those using a PDI index and found a high level of consistency between the two approaches, both between the two measures and between the measures and other indicators of material hardship and income.

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PSE:UK is a major collaboration between the University of Bristol, Heriot-Watt University, The Open University, Queen's University Belfast, University of Glasgow and the University of York working with the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. ESRC Grant RES-060-25-0052.