On February 29, 2012, the World Bankreleased an updated dataset of internationally comparablepoverty estimates. Poverty is assessed against twointernationally comparable poverty lines: $1.25 and $2 a dayper capita (measured using 2005 purchasing power parityexchange rates). The new global estimates indicate asignificant reduction in the proportion of world populationbelow the $1.25 per day per capita poverty line, from 43.1percent to 22.4 percent between 1990 and 2008. On the otherhand, the reduction in the number of poor people is lessimpressive, mainly on account of population growth duringthis period. As a result, the number of the poor in 2008 wasstill as high as 1.29 billion people, although it fell from1.9 billion in 1990. Accuracy of estimates in the MiddleEast and North Africa (MENA) region will improve if data iscollected more regularly by individual countries as well asshared more rapidly. On an encouraging note, in the recentlyreleased 2008 poverty numbers, three MENA countries andterritories are included for the first time (namely, Iraq,Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza).
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