The paper by A. B. Atkinson explores the challenges and implications of adopting a multidimensional approach to understanding deprivation. It discusses the distinction between the union and intersection approaches, where the union approach focuses on those who are deprived in at least one dimension, while the intersection approach targets those who are deprived in multiple dimensions. The paper examines how these approaches relate to social welfare functions and multidimensional poverty measures. It highlights the differences between the social welfare function approach, which links conditions on union and intersection to the properties of the social welfare function, and the "counting" approach, which simply counts the number of dimensions in which people suffer deprivation. The paper aims to provide a common framework for these approaches and discusses the aggregation of deprivation, distinguishing between individual-level aggregation and aggregate indicator formation. It also introduces the concept of a human poverty index proposed by Anand and Sen, which combines sub-indices using a weighted mean. The paper concludes by summarizing the main conclusions and the potential for future applications of these approaches.The paper by A. B. Atkinson explores the challenges and implications of adopting a multidimensional approach to understanding deprivation. It discusses the distinction between the union and intersection approaches, where the union approach focuses on those who are deprived in at least one dimension, while the intersection approach targets those who are deprived in multiple dimensions. The paper examines how these approaches relate to social welfare functions and multidimensional poverty measures. It highlights the differences between the social welfare function approach, which links conditions on union and intersection to the properties of the social welfare function, and the "counting" approach, which simply counts the number of dimensions in which people suffer deprivation. The paper aims to provide a common framework for these approaches and discusses the aggregation of deprivation, distinguishing between individual-level aggregation and aggregate indicator formation. It also introduces the concept of a human poverty index proposed by Anand and Sen, which combines sub-indices using a weighted mean. The paper concludes by summarizing the main conclusions and the potential for future applications of these approaches.