Poverty Lines across the World

Ravallion, Martin

关键词: ABSOLUTE POVERTY;    ABSOLUTE POVERTY LINE;    ABSOLUTE POVERTY LINES;    AGGREGATE INCOME;    AGGREGATE POVERTY;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-5284
RP-ID  :  WPS5284

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

National poverty lines vary greatlyacross the world, from under $1 per person per day to over$40 (at 2005 purchasing power parity). What accounts forthese huge differences, and can they be understood within acommon global definition of poverty? For all except thepoorest countries, the absolute, nutrition-based, povertylines found in practice tend to behave more like relativelines, in that they are higher for richer countries.Prevailing methods of setting absolute lines allow amplescope for such relativity, even when nutritional norms arecommon across countries. Both macro data on poverty linesacross the world and micro data on subjective perceptions ofpoverty are consistent with a weak form of relativity thatcombines absolute consumption needs with social-inclusionneeds that are positive for the poorest but rise with acountry s mean consumption. The strong form of relativismfavored by some developed countries -- whereby the line isset at a fixed proportion of the mean -- emerges as thelimiting case for very rich countries.