Where the Poor Are - An Atlas of Poverty

The Center for International Earth Science Information Network, at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York has brought out An Atlas of Poverty. This atlas provides examples of the important uses of poverty maps, including: the ability to overlay them with maps of geographical features, agroecological zones, education, accessibility, services and so on, so as to better understand and analyze possible causes of poverty; for better targeting of resources; and for raising donor awareness of financing needs. Chapter 2, “Poverty on a Global Scale,” provides global poverty-related maps, including “Global Distribution of Infant Mortality” and the “Global Distribution of Hunger.” These maps show that while infant mortality is worse in Africa, hunger (percentage of children age 0-5 underweight) is much worse in South Asia, corresponding to areas with high population density. Chapter 3, “Poverty Within Continents,” looks at poverty within continents and includes maps of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Interesting findings include a correlation between lower poverty levels and coastal regions in both Africa and Asia. In Chapter 4, “Poverty Within Countries,” CIESEN provides poverty maps for 12 different countries, and discusses specific policy applications using poverty maps in Mexico, Uganda, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Kenya and Bangladesh. One interesting finding is that in Nicaragua, Mozambique, Kenya, Bangladesh and Vietnam, poverty maps show that poverty is worst in rural, remote and sparsely populated areas. In Chapter 5, “Urban Poverty,” CIESEN predicts that in the near future, urban growth will most impact the poorest areas of the world. CIESEN provides several poverty maps of urban areas. The atlas is available for download at CIESIN

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