In the Multidimensional Poverty Index, asset ownership is used as a marker of basic security and participation in social and economic life. Households are considered non-deprived if they own items such as a phone, radio, bicycle, or refrigerator, or have access to motorised transport.

But ownership does not always mean usability. A bicycle provided under a government scheme may be enough to remove a household from the deprivation count, even if it is broken and the family cannot afford to repair it. The indicator records possession, while the inability to actually use the asset, and the limits it places on mobility and livelihoods, remains unseen.