In East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia, a 10-year-old boy’s suicide exposes the limits of income-based poverty metrics. Multidimensional data show that deprivation in Indonesia often clusters long before a family is officially classified as poor.
Categorisation of poverty in Indonesia needs to be multidimensional.
In East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia, a 10-year-old boy’s suicide exposes the limits of income-based poverty metrics. Multidimensional data show that deprivation in Indonesia often clusters long before a family is officially classified as poor.
A child in East Nusa Tenggara Indonesia, took his own life after his family struggled to afford schoolbooks and pens. The boy, a student in elementary school, was 10 years old. Before the tragedy, he and his classmates had been asked by the school to pay Rp 1.2 million in tuition fees.
This incident is a reminder of how vulnerability can build quietly over time. Poverty and vulnerability rarely arrive in a single moment; it often accumulates across schooling, health coverage, and access to basic services. The deeper question, then, is how can we strengthen our systems so that such vulnerability is recognised earlier and addressed sooner?
