Extreme Poverty Headcount Change

We classify countries into 5 categories based on the change of the extreme poverty headcount between 1990 and 2015. A country is defined as poor if more than 10% of its population is living in extreme poverty.

The categories are:

• Rich Countries (R): Countries that have a value of extreme poverty headcount below 10% in 1990 and in 2015

• Emerging Countries 1 (E_R1): Countries that have a value of extreme poverty headcount above 10% in 1990 and below 10% in 2015 with a decrease in this value of 50% or more (head count in 2015 is half or less than half of what it was in 1990)

• Emerging Countries 2 (E_R2): Countries that have a value of extreme poverty headcount above 10% in 1990 and still above 10% in 2015 with a decrease in this value of more than 50% (head count is lower in 2015 but still above 10%)

• Non-emerging countries (NE): Countries where the head count in 1990 was more than 10% and still more than 10% in 2015 with a reduction of less than 50%

• Countries going into extreme poverty (B): Countries with less than 10% head count in 1990 and more than 10% in 2015