This section consists of two parts, "a. Level of Poverty" and "b. Population Below Poverty", and is a new section since the last round. The first part asks for information regarding the poverty level. Here a monetary figure for the poverty level is given for a specific family size in the respondent's city or country. The second part of this section asks for the percent of population below the poverty level. Respondents are asked to give an actual or estimated percent of their cities' population that lives below the poverty level given in part "a. Level of Poverty" of this section.

Out of the total 187 respondents, 133 provided information regarding the amount of income per person that is regarded as the poverty level. Also 144 respondents provided information on either the official or estimated percentage of their populations living in poverty.

A total of 73 of the 187 respondents were able to provide data on the official percent of their city's population living below the established level of poverty. Of these 73 respondents, 41 indicated that less than 10% of their city's population fell below the poverty level. The number of respondents indicating that from 10-20% to 40-50% of their city's population lives below the level of poverty ranges from 2 to 7 respondents. At the level of "more than 50%", the number increases to 13 respondents.

A total of 72 respondents gave estimates of the percent of their city's population living below the level of poverty. The estimated levels of poverty follow a pattern similar to that of the official rates. Of these 72 respondents who gave information, 26 indicated that less than 10% of their city's population live below their established level for poverty. The numbers decrease from 13 to 2 as the percentages increase from 10-20% to 40-50%. Then at the "more than 50%" level, the number of respondents increases to 10.

Any analysis of this question should be made with caution; but the results here may indicate that poverty in the participant cities is either not a problem or is a serious problem.

Table 4- 1
Poverty Level and Percent of Population
Below Poverty Level by Country

Figure 4- 1
% of Population Below Poverty Level

Tables 4-2 and 4-3 show, respectively, the data for the official and estimated percent of population living below the poverty level by region. The East Asian countries in this report are China, Japan, and South Korea. South East Asia is represented by Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines, and Thailand. The South Asian countries are India and Pakistan. East Asia shows the lowest percentages of official and estimated poverty with no respondent indicating a poverty rate of higher than 30%. Southeast Asia, while a majority of respondents indicated less than 30% of their cities' populations lived in poverty, had a number of respondents report more than 30% poverty levels. A majority of South Asian respondents indicated that more than 30% of their cities' populations lived below their established poverty level.

Table 4-2
Official % Below Poverty Level by Region

Table 4-3
Estimated % Below Poverty Level by Region