How the scale and nature of urban poverty are under - estimated – the limitations of the US $ 1 a day poverty line

If the term poverty it taken to mean human needs that are not met, then most of the estimates for the scale of urban poverty in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean appear too low. World Bank estimates for 1988 suggested that there were 330 million "poor" people living in urban areas (World Bank 1991) which implied that more than three-quarters of the urban population in low and middle income nations were not "poor" on that date. The 1999/2000 World Development Report (World Bank 1999) suggested that there were 495 million >urban poor= by the year 2000 in low and middle income nations which implies that three quarters of the urban population are >not poor=.