Poverty Reduction in East Asia : The Silent Revolution Book

This paper sheds light on the basic facts of poverty in the East Asian developing countries including past progress in abating poverty, and how many poor remain in the 1990s, based on a common definition of absolute poverty. The incidence of absolute poverty in East Asian developing countries went from a third of the population in 1970, to a fifth in 1980, and to a tenth in 1990. The prospects for reducing poverty in the 1990s, are good, but will not necessarily be easy. The poverty that remains is more intractable, in pockets bypassed thus far by general growth and social programs. In order to permit comparisons, this report uses an equivalent absolute poverty line and then adjusts data as necessary to obtain estimates for 1970, 1980, and 1990 - rural, urban, and total recognizing that the numbers for 1990 are often "projections". It also estimates the actual poverty gap in terms of GNP, reviews the social indicators, looks into the congruence of poverty and social indicators. The report is not an analysis of the determinants of poverty reduction, and it does not advocate any particular combination or sequence of policies and programs.