Poverty in Western and Central Asia

This chapter explores poverty and inequality in Western and Central Asia, aiming to assess progress and identify persisting and emerging challenges. The countries in Western and Central Asia have achieved substantial poverty reduction since the early 2000s. Nonetheless, progress in reducing poverty has slowed since 2009. As economic growth decelerated, the countries of the region face old and new challenges to improve incomes and living conditions. Moreover, progress in poverty reduction has been heterogeneous, and the benefits from growth did not equally reach all geographical areas and population groups. The chapter also examines the methodologies for calculating national welfare aggregates, poverty lines, and monetary and multidimensional poverty rates. To this aim, the study-case of Armenia is leveraged to provide an overview of the main methodological considerations in measuring poverty in the region. Finally, the chapter reflects on three current challenges for poverty reduction in Western and Central Asia, including spatial disparities at the subnational level and between capital cities, rural areas, and secondary cities; household vulnerability to idiosyncratic and macroeconomic shocks, climate risks, and natural disasters; and inequality of opportunity to access high-productivity jobs and basic inputs for human capital accumulation.