Italian Households’ Material Deprivation: Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm approach for categorical variables
Material deprivation is a complex concept referring to the inability of
families to meet certain needs. Some indicators of material deprivation, included in
the EU portfolio, are collected by EU-SILC survey on households and individuals
through categorical variables. In this study, the large dataset provided by EU-SILC
survey collected in Italy in 2017, on a sample of 22,226 households is analysed. The
main goal is to identify clusters of Italian households to take into account the multiple
aspects of material deprivation conditions, including environmental ones. To that end,
a multi-objective genetic algorithm as a clustering technique for categorical data is
proposed. The results are compared with those obtained by applying a K-means
algorithm to latent variables scores.