Ending poverty needs better data, measurement

Timely data and better measurement are vital to achieve the World Bank's twin goals of ending poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity, said a report released by the World Bank on Thursday.

The report, entitled "Policy Research Report 2014: A Measured Approach to Ending Poverty and Boosting Shared Prosperity," suggests that data systems at the country level need to be strengthened and data should be collected more frequently, so as to better inform national policy and help international partners identify gaps and prioritize actions.

It also suggests shifting the common understanding of development progress away from average per capita income and emphasizes that good growth should benefit the least well-off in society.

"Extreme inequality, as prevails today in the world, leaves many people deprived not only of basic livelihood, but basic rights," said Kaushik Basu, World Bank's senior vice president and chief economist when releasing the report.

"To attend to this urgent problem of our times, we need a practical way of measuring inclusive growth that is applicable the world over," said Basu. "The twin goals adopted by the World Bank Group last year is a response to this."

According to the data of the World Bank, substantial progress has been made in reducing global poverty, with the number of people living in extreme poverty halving to around 1 billion people, or 14.5 percent of the world's population between 1990 and 2011.