WDI: Poverty and Inequality

National governments and their development partners are all working to reduce poverty. Although it is often thought of as a lack of material resources, poverty is correlated closely with all aspects of a person’s life: the world’s poor are more likely to be malnourished, they have less access to services like education, electricity, sanitation and healthcare, and they are more vulnerable to conflict and climate change. Understanding poverty is thus fundamental to understanding how societies can progress.

Reducing poverty and inequality are central to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Bank Group’s twin goals for 2030: ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity in every country in a sustainable manner. National statistical systems, household surveys and poverty measurement methodologies are at the heart of tracking these global goals.