Guide on Poverty Measurement

Poverty is increasingly recognized as a global phenomenon. The call for internationally comparable poverty measures is especially strong in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Moreover, the recent economic crisis has heightened the need for reliable and timely statistics for international monitoring and national policymaking on poverty reduction. This publication provides an overview of concepts such as poverty, inequality, social inclusion, vulnerability to poverty and being at risk of poverty. It addresses the monetary approach to poverty, including the income and consumption expenditure measures. It also introduces non-monetary deprivations and the material deprivation index, and presents a discussion on the integrated measurement of multidimensional poverty.