Counting the World's Poor : Problems and Possible Solutions

As recent discussions have made clear, the apparent lack of poverty reduction in the face of historically high rates of economic growth-both in the world as a whole and in specific countries (most notably India)-provides fuel for the argument that...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Deaton, Angus
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English en_US
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2014
Subjects:	AGRICULTURAL LABORERS AGRICULTURAL SECTOR ANTIPOVERTY POLICIES AVERAGE INCOMES CALORIES PER PERSON CALORIES PER PERSON PER DAY CHANGES IN POVERTY CONSUMER PRICE INDEX CONSUMPTION DATA CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE CONSUMPTION GROWTH CONSUMPTION POVERTY CURRENT POVERTY DECLINE IN POVERTY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT REPORT DIMENSIONS OF POVERTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMICS ELIMINATION OF POVERTY ESTIMATES OF POVERTY EXCHANGE RATE EXCHANGE RATES FOOD AVAILABILITY FOOD CONSUMPTION FOOD EXPENDITURE FOOD EXPENDITURES FOOD SHARE FOOD STAPLES GROWTH RATE GROWTH RATES HEADCOUNT RATIO HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE SURVEYS HOUSEHOLD INCOME HOUSEHOLD SURVEY HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS HOUSING HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX INCIDENCE ANALYSIS INCOME INCOME DATA INCOME DISTRIBUTION INCOME GROWTH INCOME LEVELS INCOME POVERTY INCREASING INEQUALITY INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES INEQUALITY INFANT MORTALITY INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS INTERNATIONAL POVERTY LINE LIVING STANDARDS LONG RUN LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES MARGINAL PROPENSITY MEASUREMENT OF POVERTY MEASURING POVERTY NATIONAL ACCOUNTS NATIONAL POVERTY NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION PER CAPITA EXPENDITURE PER CAPITA GROWTH PER CAPITA INCOME POINT ESTIMATE POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL SUPPORT POOR POOR COUNTRIES POOR PEOPLE POORER HOUSEHOLDS POVERTY ALLEVIATION POVERTY ESTIMATES POVERTY LINE POVERTY LINES POVERTY MEASUREMENT POVERTY MEASURES POVERTY PROFILE POVERTY RATE POVERTY RATES POVERTY REDUCTION PROMOTING GROWTH PUBLIC EXPENDITURE PUBLIC EXPENDITURES RAPID GROWTH REDUCED POVERTY REDUCTION OF POVERTY REGIONAL DIFFERENCES RELATIVE PRICES RURAL RURAL AREAS RURAL HOUSEHOLDS RURAL PEOPLE RURAL POVERTY RURAL POVERTY LINES RURAL POVERTY RATES SCHOOL ATTENDANCE STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT SUBSISTENCE TRANSITION ECONOMIES URBAN POVERTY URBAN WORKERS
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/01/17591986/counting-worlds-poor-problems-possible-solutions http://hdl.handle.net/10986/17125

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Summary:	As recent discussions have made clear, the apparent lack of poverty reduction in the face of historically high rates of economic growth-both in the world as a whole and in specific countries (most notably India)-provides fuel for the argument that economic growth does little to reduce poverty. How confident can we be that the data actually support these inferences? At the international level, the regular revision of purchasing power parity exchange rates plays havoc with the poverty estimates, changing them in ways that have little or nothing to do with the actual experience of the poor. At the domestic level, the problems in measuring poverty are important not only for the world count but also for tracking income poverty within individual countries. Yet, in many countries, there are large and growing discrepancies between the survey data-the source of poverty counts-and the national accounts-the source of the measure of economic growth. Thus economic growth, as measured, has at best a weak relationship with poverty, as measured.

Counting the World's Poor : Problems and Possible Solutions

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