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Global poverty: A fall to cheer | The Economist /nodeprint Global poverty A fall to cheer For the first time ever, the number of poor people is declining everywhere Mar 3rd 2012 | from the print edition THE past four years have seen the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and the biggest food-price increases since the 1970s. That must surely have swollen the ranks of the poor. Wrong. The best estimates for global poverty come from the World Banks Development Research Group, which has just updated from 2005 its figures for those living in absolute poverty (not be confused with the relative measure commonly used in rich countries). The new estimates show that in 2008, the first year of the finance-and-food crisis, both the number and share of the population living on less than $1.25 a day (at 2005 prices, the most commonly accepted poverty line) was falling in every part of the world. This was the first instance of 1 of 3 8/21/12 8:50 AM Global poverty: A fall to cheer | The Economist /nodeprint declines across the board since the bank started collecting the figures in 1981 (see chart). The estimates for 2010 are partial but, says the bank, they show global poverty that year was half its 1990 level. The world reached the UNs “mi