Poverty
There has been marked progress on reducing extreme poverty over the past two decades: the share of people living in extreme poverty – with incomes below USD 1.90 per day, has fallen from over 22% in 2000 to just below 5% in 2019 across the Asia/Pacific region on average (Figure 4.1). Much of the observed reduction was driven by remarkable progress in China, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Tajikistan and Viet Nam, where poverty rates decreased by more than 30 percentage points.
Despite progress, extreme poverty is still widespread in India and Timor-Leste, where more than 20% of the population have to get by with less than USD 1.90 per day. Among low- and middle-income countries, poverty levels are lowest in China, Fiji, Mongolia and Thailand, where less than 0.5% of the population experiences severe poverty.
Poverty rates are a measure of inability to satisfy subsistence needs, including nutritional needs and prevention of communicable diseases. The number of deaths attributable to communicable diseases, maternal and prenatal conditions, and undernourishment is generally correlated with the share of the population living under the USD 1.90 poverty line (Figure 4.2). However, in Pakistan and the Philippines, the share of deaths by these factors is well above what one would expect given poverty rates. Lao PDR, Nepal and Timor-Leste also recorded a quite high number of deaths. In these countries, social policies may take on a greater focus on food security and public health.
Poverty generally declined more rapidly in countries with the strongest GDP growth (Figure 4.3). The pace of both economic growth and poverty reduction was fastest in Armenia, China and Viet Nam over the 2000-19 period. In contrast, in Lao PDR and Georgia the share of the population under the poverty line did not decline as much as one would have expected given the pace of economic growth.
Poverty rates are commonly measured by using income or consumption levels. The poverty rate is a headcount of how many people fall below the poverty line. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than USD 1.90 a day per person, measured in 2011 Purchasing Power Parity prices (World Bank, 2021[1]). The United Nation Sustainable Development Goal 1 aims to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030.
The indicator also presents information on cause of death refers to the share of all deaths for all ages by underlying causes. Communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions include infectious and parasitic diseases, respiratory infections, and nutritional deficiencies such as underweight and stunting.
GDP per capita is calculated using a country’s GDP in the United States dollars (USD) which is then divided by the country’s total population. Real annual average growth are calculated by using compound annual growth rate during the period (2000-20).
References
[1] World Bank (2021), World Development Indicators, https://databank.worldbank.org.
[2] World Bank (2020), Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020, Reversals of Fortune, https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/34496/9781464816024.pdf.
Source: World Bank (2021), World Development Indicators.
Source: World Bank (2021), World Development Indicators.
