Poverty in the developing world.

• Position: GRAPH: INTERNATIONAL

The article "India at a Crossroads" examines the challenges that country is facing as it makes the transition to an industrialized economy. As this graph shows, India still has a high proportion of people living in extreme poverty, even as its middle class continues to grow. Last year, the World Bank calculated that more than a billion people in developing countries were living on less than $1 a day (also known as the "international poverty line"). Nevertheless, the Bank says the world is stilt on target to meet a United Nations goal of halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015.

[GRAPHIC OMITTED]

ANALYZE THE GRAPH

(1) About how many of India's 1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day?

a 240 million

b 380 million

c 450 million

d 525 million

(2) Which two countries on the graph have the closest number of people riving on less than $1 a day?

a Mali and Nigeria

b Mexico and Brazil

c China and Pakistan

d It's impossible to tell from this graph.

(3) Twenty-three percent of Ethiopians live on less than $1 a day. If Ethiopia were added to the graph, it would be between

a Uganda and Mali

b China and India

c Mexico and Brazil

d Egypt and Russia

(4) The U.S. is not on this graph because

a it is not a developing country.

b it has very few poor people.

c it is not in the selected regions.

d all of the above.

(5) Sub-Saharan Africa has almost triple the percentage of people living on less than $1 a day compared with what other region?

a Southeast Asia

b Eastern Asia

c Latin America

d North Africa

Discussion Questions

1. What is the purpose of establishing an "international poverty line"? Why do you think the World Bank publishes these numbers? What might they hope they will be used for, and by whom?

2. The graph compares the percentage of populations living under the...