Who Are the Poor in the Developing World?

This paper presents a new demographic profile of extreme and moderate poverty, defined as those living on less than $1.90 and between $1.90 and $3.10 per day in 2013, based on household survey data from 89 developing countries. The face of poverty...

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Main Authors: Castaneda, Andes, Doan, Dung, Newhouse, David, Nguyen, Minh Cong, Uematsu, Hiroki, Azevedo, Joao Pedro
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/10/26832079/poor-developing-world
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25161
id okr-10986-25161
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-251612021-06-14T10:11:29Z Who Are the Poor in the Developing World? Castaneda, Andes Doan, Dung Newhouse, David Nguyen, Minh Cong Uematsu, Hiroki Azevedo, Joao Pedro poverty measurement gender inequality primary education educational attainment extreme poverty urbanization poverty reduction rural poverty This paper presents a new demographic profile of extreme and moderate poverty, defined as those living on less than $1.90 and between $1.90 and $3.10 per day in 2013, based on household survey data from 89 developing countries. The face of poverty is primarily rural and young; 80 percent of the extreme poor and 75 percent of the moderate poor live in rural areas. Over 45 percent of the extreme poor are children younger than 15 years old, and nearly 60 percent of the extreme poor live in households with three or more children. Gender differences in poverty rates are muted, and there is scant evidence of gender inequality in poor children's educational attainment. A sizable share of the extreme and moderate poor, 40 and 50 percent, respectively, have completed primary school. Compared with the extreme poor, the moderate poor are significantly more likely to have completed primary school and are less likely to work in agriculture. After conditioning on other individual and household characteristics, having fewer than three children, having greater educational attainment, and living in an urban area are strongly and positively associated with economic well-being. The results reinforce the central importance of households in rural areas and those containing large numbers of children in efforts to reduce extreme poverty, and are consistent with increased educational attainment and urbanization hastening poverty reduction. 2016-10-17T15:59:10Z 2016-10-17T15:59:10Z 2016-10 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/10/26832079/poor-developing-world http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25161 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7844 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
en_US
topic poverty
measurement
gender inequality
primary education
educational attainment
extreme poverty
urbanization
poverty reduction
rural poverty
spellingShingle poverty
measurement
gender inequality
primary education
educational attainment
extreme poverty
urbanization
poverty reduction
rural poverty
Castaneda, Andes
Doan, Dung
Newhouse, David
Nguyen, Minh Cong
Uematsu, Hiroki
Azevedo, Joao Pedro
Who Are the Poor in the Developing World?
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7844
description This paper presents a new demographic profile of extreme and moderate poverty, defined as those living on less than $1.90 and between $1.90 and $3.10 per day in 2013, based on household survey data from 89 developing countries. The face of poverty is primarily rural and young; 80 percent of the extreme poor and 75 percent of the moderate poor live in rural areas. Over 45 percent of the extreme poor are children younger than 15 years old, and nearly 60 percent of the extreme poor live in households with three or more children. Gender differences in poverty rates are muted, and there is scant evidence of gender inequality in poor children's educational attainment. A sizable share of the extreme and moderate poor, 40 and 50 percent, respectively, have completed primary school. Compared with the extreme poor, the moderate poor are significantly more likely to have completed primary school and are less likely to work in agriculture. After conditioning on other individual and household characteristics, having fewer than three children, having greater educational attainment, and living in an urban area are strongly and positively associated with economic well-being. The results reinforce the central importance of households in rural areas and those containing large numbers of children in efforts to reduce extreme poverty, and are consistent with increased educational attainment and urbanization hastening poverty reduction.
format Working Paper
author Castaneda, Andes
Doan, Dung
Newhouse, David
Nguyen, Minh Cong
Uematsu, Hiroki
Azevedo, Joao Pedro
author_facet Castaneda, Andes
Doan, Dung
Newhouse, David
Nguyen, Minh Cong
Uematsu, Hiroki
Azevedo, Joao Pedro
author_sort Castaneda, Andes
title Who Are the Poor in the Developing World?
title_short Who Are the Poor in the Developing World?
title_full Who Are the Poor in the Developing World?
title_fullStr Who Are the Poor in the Developing World?
title_full_unstemmed Who Are the Poor in the Developing World?
title_sort who are the poor in the developing world?
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2016
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/10/26832079/poor-developing-world
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25161
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