Aide Memoire: " AD- HOC expert meeting on qualitative and quantitative approaches to the measurement of poverty in Africa" (12-13 November 1999, Addis Ababa)

Abstract

Until recently, little empirical evidence existed to validate the common belief that Africa is the poorest continent in the world. The availability of household level information on living standards in some African countries in recent Periods have been used to measure the magnitude, depth and seventy of poverty in Africa by different studies For a sample of 20 African countries for which such data was available. Economic Report 1999, UN/ECA provided poverty estimates for the continent. According to these results about 44% of Africa's Population were living below a poverty line of $39 per person per month in the early 1990s. North Africa boasts a much lower incidence of poverty where only 22% of the population of the sub-region were living below a poverty line of $ 54 per person per month, while SSA Sub-Saharan Africa) records a much higher incidence of poverty with 51% of the population lived below a poverty line of $34 per person per month.