Foreword and Acknowledgements

Over the past decade, the global economic centre of gravity has moved eastwards and southwards. Fast growth in developing countries has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and doubled OECD growth rates. At the global level, this overall decline in poverty has resulted in better distribution of wealth among countries. However, the picture within countries can be quite different. Rapid economic growth has left many societies in flux with a variety of impacts on human well-being and inequality. Certain population groups remain mired in persistent poverty, while the growing middle class and an increasingly educated youth have new expectations and rising aspirations.