Abstract
The World Bank’s widely used poverty lines of US$1 and 2 per day, Anker argues, do not adequately capture what it means to be poor in different countries. The new methodology he proposes is designed to remedy this shortcoming while ensuring international comparability of national poverty lines: the price of non-food necessities is added to that of a low-cost, nutritious diet suited to each country’s national preferences and in proportions appropriate to its developmental level. Applying this methodology to a sample of 12 countries, Anker shows that poverty occurs in all countries – at much higher levels than the World Bank currently estimates.