Monitoring Policy Making at the United Nations |
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Population Living on Less Than $1 a Day:
Source: Chen & Ravallion, How Have the World's Poorest Fared since the Early 1980's?
1981-2001
World Bank 2004
(Created by Pekka Hirvonen, February 2005)
* At 1993 purchasing power parity (PPP)
Related Articles
UN Aims to Cut Poverty in Half as Experts Wonder How to Measure It (February 3, 2005)
Halving extreme poverty by 2015 is a central objective of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. However, defining and measuring poverty is not only complicated, but it is also susceptible to political influence. Unless the World Bank takes measures to ensure the impartiality of its staff, meeting the poverty reduction target could involve more statistical manipulation than actual progress. (New York Times)The First UN Millennium Development Goal (November 6, 2003)
What is poverty? How is it measured and by who? Mainstream media and UN institutions generally rely on the World Bank for data on poverty and poverty reduction. This article criticizes the World Bank's arbitrary way of developing these data, thereby critically assessing the fundaments of the Millennium Development Goals. (Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs)Amartya Sen and the Thousand Faces of Poverty (December 5, 2001)
Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen criticizes the traditional way of measuring poverty, by income level. Sen argues that multifaceted problems like poverty and inequality should instead be seen in relation to individual’s potential to function in their respective societies. (Inter-American Development Bank)
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