The number of people in low- and middle-income countries who suffer from depression is increasing, and a significant proportion of people in these countries live in poverty. We estimated the effect of living in multidimensional poverty on experiencing symptoms associated with major depression using the 2018 Peruvian Demographic and Health Survey. We used an instrumental variables approach to overcome the potential endogeneity bias caused by the simultaneous relationship between multidimensional poverty and depression. We found that living in multidimensional poverty significantly increases depression symptom severity. This has urgent policy implications for low- and middle-income countries with limited provision of mental health services.

低收入和中等收入国家患有抑郁症的人数正在增加，这些国家中有很大比例的人生活在贫困中。我们使用 2018 年秘鲁人口与健康调查估计了生活在多维贫困中对体验与严重抑郁症相关的症状的影响。我们使用工具变量方法来克服多维贫困和抑郁症之间同时存在的关系导致的潜在内生性偏差。我们发现生活在多维贫困中会显着增加抑郁症状的严重程度。这对提供有限精神卫生服务的低收入和中等收入国家具有紧迫的政策影响。