Global Extent and Distribution of Poverty

This chapter provides an overview of the global extent of poverty and its distribution among the six main continental blocks of countries: East Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Near East and North Africa, South Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. For each of these regions, structural features of the whole economy and the agriculture sector are examined to illustrate how they are linked to the extent of poverty. Interregional differences in livestock population densities, numbers of livestock keepers, levels and dynamics of development are reviewed. Following this, the role of livestock in food security and nutrition, the changing patterns of food consumption, and their implications for future demand for animal-source foods (ASFs) are analysed. The chapter ends by reviewing the negative impacts of livestock sector growth and intensified livestock production.