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Around the world, countries use a wide variety of poverty measurement methodologies. A common method used to measure poverty is based on levels of consumption - a person is considered poor if his or her consumption level falls below some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs. This note therefore aims at briefly laying out the methodological framework of measuring poverty in the Maldives using a relative poverty line and presents findings of applying the poverty concepts in the context of the Maldives. For the purpose of this note, poverty is the pronounced deprivation in well-being defined as whether households or individuals have enough resources or abilities to meet their needs. Poverty is also multidimensional in nature and can include low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity but also low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one's life.

Employment --- Poverty Line

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Small area estimates of poverty and inequality statistics, through survey-to-census imputation that lets consumption be estimated for each and every household in a census, are useful for at least three reasons. First, they can help improve the effectiveness of public spending, by targeting to prevent the leakage of benefits to the non-poor (and prevent the under-coverage of the poor). If poor people are concentrated in certain areas, spatial targeting by directing extra development projects and public services to those areas, may be more feasible than trying to individually target the poor. Geographic targeting is highly relevant in countries like Timor Leste, where mountainous topography contributes to high levels of heterogeneity. In similar environments, such as Papua New Guinea, the enclave nature of some modern economic development has created high levels of spatial inequality. The basic details are that household survey data are used to estimate a model of consumption, with explanatory variables restricted to those that have overlapping distributions from a census. The coefficients from this model are then combined with the variables from the census, and consumption is predicted for each household in the census. With these predictions available for all households, inequality and poverty statistics can be estimated for small geographic areas (Elbers et al, 2003).2 In the results below, the poverty statistics that are calculated by using the predicted consumption data for each census household are reported at the suco level (n=442). For the headcount poverty rate, the standard errors at the suco level (relative to the poverty index) average one-quarter and so this is a comparable degree of precision to what the survey offered at the municipality level (n=13) for a variable like the poverty severity index.

Demographic and Health Survey --- Poverty Line

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Traditional measures of poverty have focused on income or expenditure based on a minimum threshold required to purchase a basket of essential goods and services. However, important aspects of well-being might not be fully captured through monetary measures alone. Multidimensional poverty measures seek to address this shortfall and have been adopted as an official indicator for the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as "SDG 1.2.2: Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions." A particular feature of SDG Indicator 1.2.2, as opposed to others in the Global SDG Indicator Framework, is that a global methodology is not mandated, and each country is therefore expected to define its own national measure of multidimensional poverty. As custodians for SDG Indicator 1.2.2, governments are responsible for reporting their measure of national multidimensional poverty into the Global SDG Indicator database. As partner agencies working together to support member states in their custodianship of SDG 1.2.2., UNDP, UNICEF and World Bank have jointly produced this document to offer a roadmap for governments seeking to design and adopt a measure of multidimensional poverty. The roadmap presents the rationale for developing such measures, an overview of the main approaches, and a general guideline for the steps to follow. Through real country examples, the document highlights many possible outcomes of the decision-making process required to adopt a successful measure of multidimensional poverty.

Deprivation --- Poverty Assessment --- Poverty Line --- Poverty Reduction --- Sustainable Development Goals

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The paper presents the first major update of the international "USD 1 a day" poverty line, first proposed in 1990 for measuring absolute poverty by the standards of the world's poorest countries. In a new data set of national poverty lines we find that a marked economic gradient only emerges when consumption per person is above about USD 2.00 a day at 2005 purchasing power parity. Below this, the average poverty line is USD 1.25, which we propose as the new international poverty line. Relative poverty appears to matter more to developing countries than has been thought. Our proposed schedule of relative poverty lines is bounded below by USD 1.25, and rises at a gradient of USD 1 in USD 3 when mean consumption is above USD 2.00 a day.

Absolute poverty --- Global poverty --- International poverty line --- National poverty --- National poverty lines --- Poor --- Poor countries --- Poor person --- Poverty line --- Poverty measurement --- Poverty Reduction --- Rural Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction

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At the outset of China's reform period, the country had a far higher poverty rate than for Africa as a whole. Within five years that was no longer true. This paper tries to explain how China escaped from a situation in which extreme poverty persisted due to failed and unpopular policies. While acknowledging that Africa faces constraints that China did not, and that context matters, two lessons stand out. The first is the importance of productivity growth in smallholder agriculture, which will require both market-based incentives and public support. The second is the role played by strong leadership and a capable public administration at all levels of government.

Absolute Poverty --- Extreme Poverty --- Inequality --- National Poverty --- National Poverty Line --- Poor --- Poverty Line --- Poverty Rates --- Poverty Reduction --- Pro-Poor Growth --- Rural Development --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Smallholder Agriculture