Poverty & Equity

Poverty & Equity
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Description of Charts on Regional Data Dashboards


Regional Poverty Trend:


  • This chart shows changes in regional poverty. The line tracks the share of the regional population living on less than the international poverty line(s), in 2011 PPP $, and the bars track the number of poor people, in millions, living in the region.
  • The poverty aggregates are for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. For details on regional grouping see: http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/data.aspx

Latest Country Poverty Data:


  • This chart shows the latest poverty rates using the international poverty line (2011 PPP), for countries in the selected region. The use of a common poverty line facilitates comparisons of poverty across countries.

Latest Country Inequality Data:


  • This chart illustrates the degree of inequality within each country. One can see to what extent poorer quintiles (1/5th) of a population have disproportionately smaller shares of total income (or consumption) compared to richer quintiles.

Latest Shared Prosperity Data:


  • This chart compares the annualized growth rate in real per capita mean income (or consumption) for the bottom 40% with that of the total population for countries in the selected region. Only countries for which there are data available for a recent time period spanning approximately 5 years are shown, that is, with the most recent year of the survey data between 2011 and 2015, and the initial year between 3 and 7 years before that. For more information on the selection of survey years and other methodological details, visit the Global Database of Shared Prosperity webpage.


Description of Charts on Country Data Dashboards


Poverty Trend at International Poverty Lines:


  • This chart shows changes in poverty at international poverty lines in 2011 PPP. The line tracks the share of the country’s population living on less than the international poverty line(s), and the bars track the number of poor people, in millions, living in the country.

Poverty Trend at National Poverty Lines:


  • This chart shows changes in poverty at country-specific national poverty lines. The line tracks the share of the country’s population living on less than the national poverty line, and the bars track the number of poor people, in millions. There may be data available for more years than are shown here, but in this chart we show only estimates that to the best of our knowledge are reasonably comparable over time (with the most recent year for which data is available). The number of poor people is estimated by multiplying the poverty rate and the population variable; differences may arise if the population estimate differs from national sources.

Inequality Trend: Changes in Distribution of Income or Consumption


  • This chart tracks changes in inequality as measured by the distribution of income (or consumption) across quintiles (1/5th) of a population. Increases in the share of total income (or consumption) for poorer quintiles and decreases for richer quintiles signify a trend towards greater equality.

Inequality Trend: Changes in Gini Index:


  • This chart tracks changes in inequality as measured by the Gini Index. A decrease in the Gini signifies a trend towards greater equality.


Definition of Key Indicators


Poverty headcount ratio at $1.90 a day (2011 PPP) (% of population):


  • Percentage of the population living on less than $1.90 a day at 2011 PPP. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

Number of people living on less than $1.90 a day (2011 PPP) (millions):


  • Number of people, in millions, living on less than $1.90 a day at 2011 PPP is calculated by multiplying the poverty rate and the population. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.

Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty line (% of population):


  • Percentage of the population living on less than the value of the national poverty line.

Number of people below the national poverty line (millions):


  • Number of people, in millions, living on less than the value of the national poverty line is calculated by multiplying the poverty rate and the population. This estimate may differ from national sources if the different population estimates are used.

Annualized growth in real per capita survey mean consumption or income, bottom 40% of the population (%):


  • The growth rate in the average welfare measure for the bottom 40 percent of the population in a country is computed as the annualized growth rate of the average real per capita consumption or income from household surveys. Only countries for which there are data available for a recent time period spanning approximately 5 years are shown, that is, with the most recent year of the survey data between 2011 and 2015, and the initial year between 3 and 7 years before that.

Annualized growth in real per capita survey mean consumption or income, total population (%):


  • The growth rate in average welfare for the total population is computed as the annualized growth rate of the average real per capita consumption or income from household surveys. Only countries for which there are data available for a recent time period spanning approximately 5 years are shown, that is, with the most recent year of the survey data between 2011 and 2015, and the initial year between 3 and 7 years before that.

Gini Index:


  • Index measure of the extent to which the distribution of income (or consumption expenditure) among individuals within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.