The World Bank has changed the international poverty line – but Jason Hickel argues that this still does not reflect the precise picture
A few weeks ago the World Bank changed the international poverty line from $1.25 to $1.90 per day. Normally,changes to the poverty line slide by without attracting much attention, but for some reason this time people got excited. At first glance, and it looks as if the bank has finally admitted that the old line was just too low,and has raised it to a more meaningful standard.
But the reality is closer to the opposite. The World Bank didnt raise the poverty line at all – it simply “rebased” the old line to adjust for depreciation in the purchasing power of the dollar. The bank claims that the new poverty line is roughly equivalent to the old line, in genuine terms. But in effect it is actually significantly lower, and therefore makes it seem as though there are fewer destitute people than before.
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Source: theguardian.com