Poverty Measurement and Identification — Definition

Definition

Poverty measurement is the process of defining deprivation, selecting evidence and classifying or summarising the people affected. A measure needs a welfare concept, a threshold or cutoff, a reference period and a population denominator.

Monetary measures commonly examine income or consumption, while multidimensional measures combine several deprivations. A headcount records how many people fall below a boundary but does not by itself describe how far below it they are.

Comparing poverty estimates therefore requires checking methods and price bases before treating a numerical difference as a real change in living conditions.