A Global Count of the Extreme Poor in 2012 : Data Issues, Methodology and Initial Results

Ferreira, Francisco H. G. ; Chen, Shaohua ; Dabalen, Andrew ; Dikhanov, Yuri ; Hamadeh, Nada ; Jolliffe, Dean ; Narayan, Ambar ; Prydz, Espen Beer ; Revenga, Ana ; Sangraula, Prem ; Serajuddin, Umar ; Yoshida, Nobuo

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: LIVING STANDARDS;    PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION;    POVERTY THRESHOLD;    REGIONAL COMPOSITION;    RISKS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7432
RP-ID  :  WPS7432

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The 2014 release of a new set ofpurchasing power parity conversion factors (PPPs) for 2011has prompted a revision of the international poverty line.In order to preserve the integrity of the goalposts forinternational targets such as the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals and the World Bank’s twin goals, the new poverty linewas chosen so as to preserve the definition and realpurchasing power of the earlier $1.25 line (in 2005 PPPs) inpoor countries. Using the new 2011 PPPs, the new line equals$1.90 per person per day. The higher value of the line in USdollars reflects the fact that the new PPPs yield arelatively lower purchasing power of that currency vis-à-visthose of most poor countries. Because the line was designedto preserve real purchasing power in poor countries, therevisions lead to relatively small changes in global povertyincidence: from 14.5 percent in the old method to 14.1percent in the new method for 2011. In 2012, the newreference year for the global count, we find 12.7 percent ofthe world’s population, or 897 million people, are living inextreme poverty. There are changes in the regionalcomposition of poverty, but they are also relatively small.This paper documents the detailed methodological decisionstaken in the process of updating both the poverty line andthe consumption and income distributions at the countrylevel, including issues of inter-temporal and spatial priceadjustments. It also describes various caveats, limitations,perils and pitfalls of the approach taken.