Ad-hoc expert group meeting on "qualitative and quantitative measures of poverty in Africa" : Background Paper Recent Issues in Poverty Measurement

Abstract

As is generally well known the measurement of poverty involves two distinct, but interrelated exercises. ‘’identification’’ of the poor and the ‘’aggregation ‘’ of the information regarding the identified poor to derive an overall index of poverty. Most of the measurement issues discussed in the literature deal with what can be termed the micro foundations of poverty based on household level investigation. Macro poverty studies use aggregative indicators of poverty such as per capita income, life expectancy and infant mortality. These and other indicators are related to a particular understanding of the ‘’standard of living’’ defined in terms of ‘’capability and functioning’’.