Abstract
Multidimensional child well-being in Jordan is the core of this paper. No such study has been performed before in Jordan. Stochastic dominance approach is an important technique that allows comparing distributions. First/second order dominance (FOD/SOD) approach is used to compare two poverty distributions across regions/areas. A problem of indetermination could result if neither one of the two regions/areas dominates the other. To solve this problem, we use multidimensional almost first/second order dominance (MAFOD/MASOD). Two techniques of MAFOD/MASOD approach are implemented: the total number of deprived dimensions and the weighted sum of the deprived dimensions. The Jordan Population and Family Health Survey 2012 (JPFHS12) data set is used. Results show that the south region is the least favorable in terms of multidimensional well-being for children under five years. On the other hand, the central region is the least favorable one for children of five or above years.
Regarding governorates, to improve the multidimensional well-being of children under five years, policymakers should target Aqaba, Ajloun and Balqa. For children of five or above years old, only Balqa and Ajloun should be targeted. Targeting policies mean to provide more resources and services such as social fund and community-driven programs to these governorates.