OVERVIEW

Definition of Poverty
Extreme poverty refers to the percentage of people living on less than $1 dollar a day, using 1985 purchasing power parity exchange rates to convert the dollar into local currency.

The Commission for Africa’s Report “Our Common Interest” defines poverty and highlights the particular depth of poverty across Africa.

The Definitions of Poverty World Bank 1999 Methodology Guide: Consultations with the Poor. Poverty Group, PREM, Washington, DC. (256KB)

The Meaning and Measurement of Poverty, by Simon Maxwell, ODI. International attention is focused more sharply on poverty reduction than for 20 years. The international target proposed by the Development Assistance Committee of the OECD has been widely adopted, namely to reduce by half by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty. But quite what this target might mean is obscured by the bewildering ambiguity with which the term ‘poverty’ is used, and by the many different indicators proposed to monitor poverty. Income poverty or human development? Sustainable livelihood or social inclusion? Current consumption or future security? Different concepts imply different interventions.

Measures of poverty - This graphic shows different measures of poverty (malnourished children, peoples not expected to survive to age 40, peoples lacking health services, illiterates adults, peoples lacking safe water, peoples who are income-poor)

Poverty and Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium Development Goals call for reducing the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day to half the 1990 level by 2015, or from 27.9 percent of all people in low and middle income economies to 14.0 percent. The Goals also call for halving the proportion of people who suffer from hunger between 1990 and 2015.

The Millennium Development Goal 1 is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Target 1 is to halve between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day. Target 2 is to halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.

According to the World Bank global poverty rate has fallen to 21.1 percent since 1990. In 2001 there were 100 million fewer people living in poverty than in 1990 and almost 400 million fewer than in 1981. If projected economic growth rate are sustained, global poverty rate will fall to 10.2 percent and additional 400 million people will avert extreme poverty – a striking success. On the other hand, progress in eradicating hunger has been slow. Rates of undernourishment have been falling in most regions, but too slowly to reach the Millennium Development Goal target, and in many regions the number of hungry people continues to grow.

A Global Agenda to End Poverty map a large-format, full-color wall map highlighting progress toward the goals is released in partnership with National Geographic. The map has a special focus on educating secondary school students about the substance of the MDGs and what is needed to meet them.

Human Development Report 2005 Takes stock of human development, including progress towards the MDGs. Looking beyond statistics, the Report highlights the human costs of missed targets and broken promises. Extreme inequality between countries and within countries is identified as one of the main barriers to human development and as a powerful brake on accelerated progress towards the MDGs (UNDP, 2005). This year’s Human Development Report  (2006) highlights the plight of over 1.2 billion people who do not have access to clean water, and over 2 billion who do not have access to sanitation, the two most effective ways of combating common infectious diseases. The 2007 Report also reveals the entrenchment of global inequality and deepening of poverty in some regions of the world.

Sources of information
Human development index of the United Nations Development Programme at the end of the 1990s

Progress in Human Development Over the Past 30 Years [1970-2000] In general, people are living longer, healthier lives, are more literate and better educated and have higher incomes than they did in 1970. This graphic includes statistics for life expectancy at birth, the infant mortality rate, the under-5 mortality rate and the numbers of people who are undernourished. It also includes statistics on the adult literacy rate, the gross enrolment rate for primary and secondary school and numbers of children who are not in school. In addition, the graphic includes statistics on per capita GDP (gross domestic product) in developing countries and on poverty (the share of the population living on less than $1 US/ day).

Are We Really Reducing Poverty?
Addresses measurement issues related to poverty and questions whether $1 per day is a valid poverty norm. It also explores the relationship between growth and poverty (UNDP, 2002).

How Did the World’s Poorest Fare in the 1990s? Assesses progress in reducing consumption poverty in developing and transition economies and finds that there was a net decrease during the period 1987-98 (World Bank, 2001).

World Development Report 2006: equity and development Documents the persistence of inequality traps by highlighting the interaction between different forms of inequality. The report presents evidence that the inequality of opportunity that arises is wasteful and inimical to sustainable development and poverty reduction. It also derives policy implications that centre on the broad concept of leveling the playing field-both politically and economically and in the domestic and the global arenas. (World Bank 2006)

World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People Focuses on basic services, particularly health, education, water, and sanitation, seeking ways of making them work for poor people (World Bank, 2004).

Will extreme poverty be halved? This paper presents the results of recent ODI research commissioned by the Department for International Development on prospects for all developing countries. The results point to some major challenges.

"2004 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness (ARDE): The World Bank’s Contributions to Poverty Reduction" Summary: "The 2004 Annual Review of Development Effectiveness: The Bank’s Contributions to Poverty Reduction, looks at the recent growth and poverty reduction experience of countries.

Poverty Reduction in the 1990s: An Evaluation of Strategy and Performance When the Bank prepared its World Development Report 1990 on poverty, the prospects for global poverty reduction looked bright. The context in which the Bank operates has altered significantly since then, as has the international economic environment.

Poverty Net World Bank website provides an introduction to key issues as well as in-depth information on poverty measurement, monitoring, analysis, and on poverty reduction strategies for researchers and practitioners.

In an article in Scientific American, ’Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated?’, Director of the Earth Institute Jeffrey Sachs argues that although market economics and globalization are lifting the bulk of humanity out of extreme poverty, special measures are needed to help the poorest of the poor.


MAKE POVERTY HISTORY Brings together a wide cross section of over 200 charities, campaigns, trade unions, faith groups and celebrities who are united by a common belief that 2005 offers a unprecedented opportunity for global change.

Global Poverty Research Group: About GPRG is a multidisciplinary research group providing a framework for collaboration between the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) at Oxford University, and IDPM and CPRC at Manchester University whose objective is to carry out a programme of work which will investigate poverty, inequality, and the quality of life.

CROP - Comparative Research Programme aims to produce sound and reliable knowledge, which can serve as a basis for poverty reduction.