September 2008.

The World Bank released in August new poverty estimates stating that more people are living in extreme poverty in developing countries than previously thought. It came to that conclusion after adjusting the recognized yardstick for measuring global poverty to $1.25 a day from $1.

In a new paper prepared by Martin Ravallion, director of the World Bank’s Development Research Group entitled “The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the fight against poverty”, the authour acknowledges that the cost of living in the developing world is higher than they previously thought revealing that poverty has been more widespread across the developing world over the past 25 years than previously estimated. However, the World Bank also says that there has been strong—if regionally uneven—progress toward reducing overall poverty.

These new estimates have sparked controversy from analysts that claim the Bank’s new estimates are based on the same methods it used earlier and are undermined by the same problems as the earlier estimates. A response paper by expert Sanjay G. Reddy: "World Bank's new poverty estimates - digging deeper into a hole" argue these issues.

Further reading

* The Developing World is Poorer than we Thought but no Less Successful in the Fight Against Poverty
By Martin Ravallion, director of the World Bank’s Development Research Group. August 2008.

* World Bank Updates Poverty Estimates for the Developing World

* World Bank's new poverty estimates - digging deeper into a hole (PDF)
Sanjay G. Reddy. August 2008

* World Bank revises poverty estimates, by Bank Information Center

* Two and a half billion people live on less than $2 a day, by Countercurrents.org

* Do the poor count?, by Countercurrents.org

* Some comments on country-to-country poverty comparisons
Social Watch
This article by Andrea Vigorito analyses the highly controversial nature of poverty studies and the problems arising when establishing international measures. 2003.