Poverty Dynamics in Africa

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This series of studies was completed under the Poverty Dynamics in Africa Initiative, \r + which is organized by the Africa Region of the World Bank. This initiative has received support from several bilateral donors: Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The motive for the series, launched in 2002, was to make use of the vastly improved household survey data in Africa and to enhance understanding of poverty trends on this continent during the 1990s. The goal is to provide a more secure empirical basis on which to assess past progress in poverty reduction in Africa and to frame more effective policies for the future.\r + \r + The countries selected for investigation are those in which the household survey data are robust and can sustain comparisons over time. Many of the studies focus on income (or consumption) poverty and seek to link poverty outcomes to wider economic change, induding economic policy reforms, in the countries concerned. Other studies use demographic and health surveys, which have provided invaluable information about the\r + well-being of African people-especially the children. Further information can be obtained from Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) in the Africa Region of the World Bank.

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Growth, Distribution, and Poverty in Africa : Messages from the 1990s

2002, Christiaensen, Luc, Demery, Lionel

This book synthesizes, and elaborates on the results of a series of country studies, completed under the Poverty Dynamics in Africa Initiative, organized by the Africa Region of the Bank. These studies made use of vastly improved household survey data, which have enhanced understanding of African poverty dynamics during the past decade. The book examines the main factors behind observed poverty changes in eight countries - Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mauritania, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. After reviewing the trends in income poverty and other, more direct measures of well-being (such as education, health, and nutrition), the authors go beyond the aggregate numbers, and highlight the insights to be gained from unraveling the microeconomic data. These data reveal systematic distributional effects, linking growth and poverty, which lead to some groups' gaining from episodes of economic growth, and others being left behind. It further describes those groups left behind, and calls for public action to ensure that all poor Africans gain from future economic growth.