World Poverty


Update 12/03/2012: HarvestChoice sub-national poverty headcount estimates for sub-Saharan Africa are available for download in our Maps section. The tables and maps in this article are now out-of-date. Changes since August 2010 are outlined in Deriving Sub-national Poverty Estimates for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The spatial team broke new ground first in negotiating access to many previously unavailable national poverty maps (based on national poverty lines) and then, while acknowledging significant conceptual and methodological issues remain, constructing the first sub-national poverty map of the developing world (headcount ratios and absolute numbers of poor people at $1.25 and $2.00 PPP 2005 poverty lines).

The map at left shows the rate at $1.25. These maps were constructed using over 24,000 sub-national data points for the developing world. Work continues to improve them further, particularly in SSA, and more recent or higher spatial resolution data is currently being added for another 10 countries in West and Central Africa (scheduled for completion in 2011). The poverty maps (and related study) were commissioned by the CGIAR Strategy Results and Framework Team and produced through contributions from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the World Bank. The principal aim of the project was to produce a new poverty map of the developing world that goes beyond simply mapping national average poverty rates (e.g. around 150 data points in a global map of developing world poverty) to provide a more nuanced depiction of poverty.

Measuring Poverty

Poverty is defined as an economic condition in which one lacks both the money and basic necessities, such as food, water, education, healthcare, and shelter, necessary to thrive. (It is also characterized by less easily quantifiable characteristics, such as lack of participation in decision-making and civil, social, and cultural life.) Commonly measured by the average daily amount of money a person lives on, poverty is currently set at less than US$2 (PPP) per day (also called the $2 poverty line) for poverty and less than US$1.25 (PPP) per day (also called the $1.25 poverty line) for extreme poverty. The most common poverty metric is head count ratio (HCR), the percent of the population living below the established poverty line. These numbers are used to calculate absolute poverty numbers.

The Maps

Below is a selection of national and sub-national maps based on the above-mentioned national and sub-national poverty line data. Please consider the following issues and acknowledgements before using these maps.

  • These are provisional results and should be interpreted with caution.
  • The spatial resolution of mapping, the poverty measures, and (where relevant) the consumption baskets to which they are applied vary widely among countries.
  • Where 2005 sub-national estimates are based on re-scaling of existing national poverty line headcount index (p0) results, the reliability of that re-scaling depends, among other things, on the year of the national survey, the change in local consumer prices between 2005 and the survey year, and the gap in the national and the internationally-comparable ($PPP) poverty lines (when all expressed in 2005 local currency).

National/Sub-National Extreme Poverty ($1.25/day) Head Count Ratio (HCR; %) in Africa

Delineation of sub-national boundaries at level 1 and level 2 where available, showing the percentage of population within the boundary which lives below the $1.25 (PPP 2005) poverty line.

 

 

National/Sub-National Number of Extreme Poor ($1.25/day)

Absolute number of poor circa 2005 at the $ 1.25 poverty line for countries and sub-national units where available.  Representation units are pixels of approximately 10x10 kilometers.

 

 

Poverty Head Count Ratio (%) of Extreme Poverty ($1.25/day) and Percentage of Poverty within each Country in Africa

Delineation where available of sub-national boundaries at level 1 and level 2, showing the percentage of the population within the boundary as compared to the total national population living below the $1.25 (PPP 2005) poverty line. (The map is coming soon).

Poverty Table at $1.25

Column headings mean:

  • Cntr_nr - number of poor in country
  • Admin_nr - number of poor in administrative sub-unit
  • Cntr_% - percentage of poor in country, measured on total country population
  • Admin_% - percentage of poor in sub-unit, measured on total sub-unit population
  • AdminCntr_% - percentage of poor in sub-unit, measured on total country population

Set filter to desired country for a country overview.

National/Sub-National Poverty ($2/day) Head Count Ratio (HCR; %) in Africa

Delineation of sub-national boundaries at level 1 and level 2 where available, showing the percentage of population within the boundary which lives below the $2 (PPP 2005) poverty line.

 

 

National/Sub-National Number of Poor ($2/day) in Africa

Absolute number of poor circa 2005 at $2 poverty line for countries and sub-national units where available.  Representation units are pixels of approximate 10x10 kilometers.

 

 

Poverty ($2/day) Head Count Ratio (HRC; %) and percentage of poverty within each country in Africa

Delineation of sub-national boundaries at level 1 and level 2 where available, showing the percentage of the population within the boundary as compared to the total national population which lives below the $1.25 (PPP 2005) poverty line. (map coming soon)

Poverty Table at $2

Column headings mean:

  • Cntr_nr - number of poor in country
  • Admin_nr - number of poor in administrative sub-unit
  • Cntr_% - percentage of poor in country, measured on total country population
  • Admin_% - percentage of poor in sub-unit, measured on total sub-unit population
  • AdminCntr_% - percentag of poor in sub-unit, measured on total country population

Set filter to desired country for a country overview.

Rankings

Ranking of Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) according to Extreme Poverty ($1.25; left) and Poverty ($2; right) Head Count Ratios (%)

SSA countries with poverty (at both $1.25 and $2 levels) and for which poverty data is available are ranked from the least to the most  poor. On both charts, three percentages are displayed: those living on $1.25/day or less, those living between $1.25 and $2/day or less, and those living on $2/day or less. Data compiled from poverty tables at $1.25 and $2 levels.

Table for Total Population at National and Sub-National Levels

Total population for each country and it's sub-national units (approximately 2005)  shown for reference purposes. Set filter to desired country for a country overview. (Do not select Admin_Units since this choice is misleading. )

Poverty and Agro Ecological Zones (AEZ)

An Agro-ecological zone (AEZ) is a land resource mapping unit that is defined by climate, landform, soils, and possibly landcover. It has a specific range of potentials and constraints for land use, especially for crop and animal production. Parameters used in the definition of an AEZ pay special attention to the climatic and edaphic requirements of crops, and on the management systems under which these crops can be grown. By overlaying the AEZs and the poverty numbers, we generated poverty information by AEZs and administrative sub-units. The corresponding map is not yet available, but the numbers are.  The actual poverty headcount data was calculated by determining the average poverty rate for each adminxaez unit and then calculating the headcount values using these rates and the total headcount for 2005.  These values will be different than the actual poverty headcount data; therefore, you may see some differences when comparing totals from the administrative units.

Table of poverty at $1.25 and $2 levels in AEZs

Set filter to desired country and variable for a country overview. Do not select Admin_Units since the choice is misleading. Variables are:

  • poor $1.25 (nr) - number of poor at $1.25 poverty line in country/admin unit/aez
  • poor $2 (nr) - number of poor at $2poverty line in country/admin unit/aez
  • poor $1.25 (%) - percentage of poor at $1.25 poverty line in country/admin unit/aez as measured by population in ...
  • poor $2 (%) - percentage of poor at $2poverty line in country/admin unit/aez as measured by population in ...
  • Total population 2005 (nr) - total population in country/admin unit/aez in year 2005

Only numbers and not percentages have been aggreggated. 

What's Next

The following features will be added soon:

  • Downloads of tables and documents
  • Poverty for sub-national level 2 units for 10 more countries
  • Map widget (Droppr)
  • Poverty by rural and urban population
  • Poverty by income quintiles
  • Poverty by development domains and other Harvest Choice geographies
  • Relationship between poverty and hunger
  • ... and more

Reference

Wood, S., G. Hyman, U. Deichmann, E. Barona, R. Tenorio, Z. Guo, S. Castano, O. Rivera, E. Diaz, and J. Marin. 2010. Sub-national poverty maps for the developing world using international poverty lines: Preliminary data release. Available from http://povertymap.info (password protected).

This dataset was developed as a part of the "Geographic Domain Analysis to Support the Targeting, Prioritization, and Design of a CGIAR Mega-Project (MP) Portfolio" in 2009, and taken from the following authorship on the poverty mapping: Stanley Wooda, Glenn Hymanb, Uwe Deichmannc, Elizabeth Baronab, Ria Tenorioa, Zhe Guoa, Silvia Castanob, Ovidio Riverab, Enna Diazb, and John Alexander Marinb

Additional data and technical contributions from: Harold Coulombec and Quentin Wodonc, Maria Munizd, Sam Benina, Todd Bensona, Julio Berdeguee, Jesus Gonzaleze, Ana Maria Barufie, Peter Lanjouwc and Ken Simlerc, Brian Blankespoorc and Siobhan Murrayc

a International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC, USA
b CIAT-International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Cali, Colombia
c World Bank, Washington DC, USA
d Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York, USA
e Rimisp-Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarrollo Rural, Santiago, Chile

Links

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Poverty and Agriculture

Poverty and Environment

Inequality

General

Statistics

Hunger

Food Security