New Global Poverty Counts

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to compute an international poverty threshold based on the food requirement to ensure an adequate calorie intake for the world’s poorest. The study proposes a new methodology based on consumer theory to provide a caloric based international poverty threshold. Using this methodology, the international poverty line is estimated to be equal to $1.22 in 1993 PPP exchange rates. According to this new yardstick, almost 1.37 billion people were poor around the world in 2001. The study also provides global estimates of hunger, according to which 13.28 percent of the world population – equivalent to 687 million people – suffered from hunger in 2001.