The Under Estimation Of Urban Poverty In Low And Middle Income Nations

This is compounded by the lack of voice and influence that low income groups have in these official spheres.

This report examines levels and trends in poverty, health status, and use of health services among children under age 5 living in large cities in low- and middle-income countries, and compares their health status and use of services to those of their other urban, rural, and non-poor counterparts. Twenty-six countries were selected for inclusion; these are the countries with one or more large cities of more than one million inhabitants in 2014 and that had at least two DHS surveys, one between 1998 and 2004 and a second in or after 2010. Poverty was assessed using the method of unsatisfied basic needs (UBN) to provide comparable levels in three categories (extremely poor, moderately poor, and not poor). Differentials in levels and decadal trends in 17 health indicators were examined, and the results are shown for individual countries, as well as for the pooled weighted cross-country averages. On average, across the 26 low- and middle-income countries studied, we estimate that three out of four children under age 5 live in extreme poverty. Poverty is highest in rural areas. About half of children under age 5 who live in large cities are extremely poor, over half in other urban areas, and more than 4 of 5 in rural areas. While extreme poverty has decreased overall and in rural areas, extreme poverty has increased in large cities. The chances of survival of children under age 5 are greatest in urban areas compared to rural areas. Poor children in large cities and other urban areas have similar chances of survival to age 5. Nutritional status of poor children in large cities is better than in other urban areas, which in turn is better than in rural areas. Both infant and under-five mortality have decreased substantially, with the greatest decadal decline observed among the extremely poor. Small improvements were made in children’s nutritional status, notably for stunting and anemia. Nutritional status has improved more among the poor than non-poor children in all areas, including the large cities. The survival gap between the poor and non-poor has narrowed considerably. Similarly, the disadvantage of poor children in stunting and anemia has been reduced. Among the 12 indicators of health service use in this report, nine show moderate or large differences between the poor and the not poor. The gap between the poor and not poor has narrowed for eight of these indicators. In large cities, the gap decreased for 10 of the 12 indicators, although the narrowing was small for three indicators. Overall, there appear to be numerous health advantages to living in an urban area, but these advantages are not conferred to all children. In survival, we see stark disparities across levels of poverty. For all indicators, the urban extremely poor children fare better than their rural extremely poor counterparts, but not as well as non-poor rural children. Despite the narrowing of gaps in many health outcomes between poor and nonpoor and between urban and rural areas, the persistence of poverty and increases in extreme poverty in large cities in low- and middle-income countries remain cause for concern.

We examine the relationship between the sectoral composition of economic growth and the rural-urban composition of poverty. To this end, we use a new cross-country panel dataset consisting of 146 rural and urban poverty “spells” for 70 low- and middle-income countries. We find that rural (urban) poverty is highly responsive to agricultural (non-agricultural) productivity growth. The effect of agricultural productivity growth on rural poverty is particularly strong for countries with little dependence on natural resources. We also find that growth in the share of employment in the non-agricultural sector (i.e. structural transformation) reduces rural poverty, most notably for countries at a low initial level of development. These findings are robust to changes in key assumptions, including using alternative poverty lines. Finally, we use our estimates to examine the historical contribution of different sources of economic growth to rural and urban poverty reduction across regions.

This edition of the biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity report brings sobering news. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and its associated economic crisis, compounded by the effects of armed conflict and climate change, are reversing hard-won gains in poverty reduction and shared prosperity. The fight to end poverty has suffered its worst setback in decades after more than 20 years of progress. The goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030, already at risk before the pandemic, is now beyond reach in the absence of swift, significant, and sustained action, and the objective of advancing shared prosperity—raising the incomes of the poorest 40 percent in each country—will be much more difficult. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune presents new estimates of COVID-19's impacts on global poverty and shared prosperity. Harnessing fresh data from frontline surveys and economic simulations, it shows that pandemic-related job losses and deprivation worldwide are hitting already poor and vulnerable people hard, while also shifting the profile of global poverty to include millions of 'new poor.' Original analysis included in the report shows that the new poor are more urban, better educated, and less likely to work in agriculture than those living in extreme poverty before COVID-19. It also gives new estimates of the impact of conflict and climate change, and how they overlap. These results are important for targeting policies to safeguard lives and livelihoods. It shows how some countries are acting to reverse the crisis, protect those most vulnerable, and promote a resilient recovery. These findings call for urgent action. If the global response fails the world's poorest and most vulnerable people now, the losses they have experienced to date will be minimal compared with what lies ahead. Success over the long term will require much more than stopping COVID-19. As efforts to curb the disease and its economic fallout intensify, the interrupted development agenda in low- and middle-income countries must be put back on track. Recovering from today's reversals of fortune requires tackling the economic crisis unleashed by COVID-19 with a commitment proportional to the crisis itself. In doing so, countries can also plant the seeds for dealing with the long-term development challenges of promoting inclusive growth, capital accumulation, and risk prevention—particularly the risks of conflict and climate change.

"In recent years an extensive body of literature has emerged on the definition, measurement, and analysis of poverty. Much of this literature focuses on analyzing poverty at the national level, or spatial disaggregation by general categories of urban or rural areas, with adjustments made for regional price differentials. Yet for an individual city attempting to tackle the problems of urban poverty, this level of aggregation is not sufficient for answering specific questions such as where the poor are located in the city, whether there are differences between poor areas, if access to services varies by subgroup, whether specific programs are reaching the poorest, and how to design effective poverty reduction programs and policies. Answering these questions is critical, particularly for large, sprawling cities with highly diverse populations and growing problems of urban poverty. Understanding urban poverty presents a set of issues distinct from general poverty analysis and thus may require additional tools and techniques. Baker and Schuler summarize the main issues in conducting urban poverty analysis, with a focus on presenting a sample of case studies from urban areas that were implemented by a number of different agencies using a range of analytical approaches for studying urban poverty. Specific conclusions regarding design and analysis, data, timing, cost, and implementation issues are discussed. This paper-a product of the Urban Unit, Transport and Urban Development Department-is part of a larger effort in the department to promote strategies for reducing urban poverty"--World Bank web site.