How did the world’s poorest fare in the 1990s?

Drawing on 265 national sample surveys spanning 83 countries we find that there was a net decrease in the overall incidence of consumption poverty over 1987-98. But it was not enough to reduce the total number of poor by various definitions. The incidence of poverty fell in Asia and the Middle East—North Africa. It changed little in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, and it rose sharply in Eastern Europe— Central Asia. We point to two main proximate causes of the disappointing rate of poverty reduction: too little economic growth in many of the poorest countries and persistent inequalities that inhibited the poor from participating in the growth that did occur.