Measuring poverty
Measuring the socio-economic status of a household or the prevalence of poverty in a society raises multiple methodological questions, many of which stem from which definition of poverty is used.
The World Bank position is clarified in Poverty Measurement and Analysis. The World Bank prioritises income as the key measure of poverty by distinguishing between 'the poor', who live below a $2 a day poverty line and the 'extreme poor', who live on less than $1 a day. These are absolute measures of poverty (i.e. measures that quantify the numbers of people living below a certain threshold).
For benefit-incidence studies (studies trying to measure to which socio-economic group should benefit from a health intervention), a relative definition of poverty suffices. In Reaching the Poor with Health, Nutrition, and Population Services: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why , Gwaktin et al. review specific interventions aimed at reaching disadvantaged groups.
The Chronic Poverty Report 2004-2005 shows that people living in chronic poverty will make up the majority of the 900 million people still in poverty in 2015, even if the MDGs are met. It is argued that the chronically poor need targeted support, social protection, and political action that confronts exclusion.
The World Bank position is clarified in Poverty Measurement and Analysis. The World Bank prioritises income as the key measure of poverty by distinguishing between 'the poor', who live below a $2 a day poverty line and the 'extreme poor', who live on less than $1 a day. These are absolute measures of poverty (i.e. measures that quantify the numbers of people living below a certain threshold).
For benefit-incidence studies (studies trying to measure to which socio-economic group should benefit from a health intervention), a relative definition of poverty suffices. In Reaching the Poor with Health, Nutrition, and Population Services: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why , Gwaktin et al. review specific interventions aimed at reaching disadvantaged groups.
The Chronic Poverty Report 2004-2005 shows that people living in chronic poverty will make up the majority of the 900 million people still in poverty in 2015, even if the MDGs are met. It is argued that the chronically poor need targeted support, social protection, and political action that confronts exclusion.
- Poverty measurement and analysis
- ( A. Coudouel;J. S. Hentschel;Q. T. Wodon / Poverty Reduction Strategies and PRSPs, PovertyNet, World Bank , 2002)
- This chapter, aimed at policy makers, offers a primer on poverty, inequality, and vulnerability analysis from the World Bank. The authors take a broad look at tools for analysis and provide a brief in...
- Reaching the poor with health, nutrition, and population services: what works, what doesn’t, and why
- ( D. Gwatkin; A. Wagstaff; A. Yazbeck / World Bank , 2005)
- This book, from the Reaching the Poor Program (RPP), provides eleven case studies that document how health, nutrition and population programmes have performed in reaching disadvantaged groups. The stu...
- Chronic poverty report 2004-2005
- ( Chronic Poverty Research Centre, UK , 2004)
- This major report from the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) examines what chronic poverty is and why it matters, who the chronically poor are, where they live, what causes poverty to be persiste...
