Kottayamhas become the only district in the country without anypoor residentsas per the latestMultidimensional POVERTY Index(MPI) released by theNiti Ayog. The headquarters of the district Kottayam was the first town in the country to be declared as 100% literate town way back in 1989.
The MPI has three equally weighted dimensions-Health, Education and standard of living. The three indicators under health are Nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, and antenatal care. The indicators under education are schooling years and school attendance. Under the standard of living comes indicators – cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets and bank account.
The MPI measure is based on the reference period of 2015-16 of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).
The government medical college hospital in the district had recently received the national award for the hospital that provided the highest number of free treatments and is one of the best hospitals in the government sector. During the pandemic, the hospital also started an Oxygen parlour. The district has 912 schools in the government, aided and unaided sectors. Around 1,58,712 students are there from Class 1-10. There are also 135 higher secondary schools in the district.