Investigating the multidimensional relative poverty in China: Evidence from Nanling Yao ethnic group area

China has made remarkable achievements in solving absolute poverty and entered into the stage of solving relative poverty which takes on multidimensional characteristics. Solving multidimensional relative poverty is the key to promoting social equity and achieving coordinated development. Based on the data of ten counties in the Nanling Yao ethnic group area in China from 2011 to 2018, we used the entropy weight method to study the degree, main influencing dimensions and distribution of multidimensional relative poverty. We found that external risk contributed the most to multidimensional relative poverty, followed by internal risk, economic development opportunity and potential development opportunity. Counties with moderate multidimensional relative poverty accounted for the largest proportion, multidimensional relative poverty was not significantly alleviated from 2011 to 2018, but some counties have different multidimensional relative poverty levels. In order to solve the multidimensional relative poverty, it is necessary to establish a Nanling economic cooperation zone, develop characteristic industries and focus on supporting counties with deep multidimensional relative poverty.