The number of economies[2] included in the GDSP depends on the availability of household surveys in the World Bank’s Global Monitoring Database (GMD) as of November 2023.[3] Shared prosperity is harder to monitor than global poverty. Whereas one household survey is needed to compute poverty, two comparable household surveys are needed to compute shared prosperity. Moreover, these surveys must be conducted around the same years in all economies to measure shared prosperity for roughly the same period. These stricter requirements mean shared prosperity cannot be measured in some of the most deprived economies, which often lack sufficient survey data (a more detailed discussion can be found here). Table 1 below shows how GDSP coverage varies between updates.[4]
________
[2] The term country, used interchangeably with economy, does not imply political independence but refers to any territory for which authorities report separate social or economic statistics.
[3] The Global Monitoring Database (GMD) is the World Bank’s repository of multitopic income and expenditure household surveys used to monitor global poverty and shared prosperity. The household survey data are typically collected by national statistical offices in each country, and then compiled, processed, and harmonized by the Data for Goals (D4G) team in the Poverty Global Practice.
[4] The largest number of economies covered was in the fourth edition of the GDSP in 2017 (which was used in World Bank, 2020), with 93 economies.
Table 1. Country coverage across editions of the GDSP, by region
Edition
|
Release Date
|
Circa
|
EAP
|
ECA
|
LAC
|
MNA
|
OHI
|
SAR
|
SSA
|
Total
|
1
|
AM2014
|
2006-2011
|
4
|
23
|
15
|
4
|
0
|
6
|
14
|
66
|
2
|
AM2015
|
2007-2012
|
5
|
24
|
15
|
4
|
18
|
6
|
14
|
86
|
3
|
AM2016
|
2008-2013
|
6
|
25
|
16
|
2
|
18
|
4
|
9
|
80
|
4
|
AM2017
|
2009-2014
|
7
|
27
|
16
|
5
|
19
|
4
|
15
|
93
|
5
|
SM2018
|
2010-2015
|
6
|
27
|
16
|
4
|
19
|
3
|
13
|
88
|
6
|
AM2018
|
2010-2015
|
6
|
26
|
16
|
3
|
18
|
4
|
12
|
85
|
7
|
SM2020
|
2012-2017
|
9
|
26
|
16
|
4
|
21
|
4
|
13
|
93
|
8
|
SM2021
|
2013-2018
|
7
|
25
|
14
|
4
|
21
|
4
|
15
|
90
|
9
|
SM2022
|
2014-2019
|
9
|
26
|
14
|
3
|
24
|
3
|
9
|
88
|
10
|
AM2022
|
2014-2019
|
8
|
26
|
14
|
2
|
23
|
2
|
5
|
80
|
11
|
SM2023
|
2015-2020
|
8
|
24
|
15
|
2
|
23
|
2
|
4
|
78
|
12 |
AM2023 |
2015-2020 |
8 |
24 |
15 |
2 |
23 |
2 |
6 |
80 |
Source: World Bank compilation based on data of GDSP (Global Database of Shared Prosperity), World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023 http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty/brief/global-database-of-shared-prosperity
Note: AM=Annual meetings in October; SM=Spring meetings in April. EAP = East Asia and Pacific; ECA = Europe and Central Asia; LAC = Latin America and Caribbean; MNA = Middle East and North Africa; OHI=Other High-Income countries; SAR = South Asia; SSA = Sub-Saharan Africa.
Survey data are selected according to two criteria: (i) to match the time periods as closely as possible across all countries, while including the most recent data; and (ii) to ensure the widest possible coverage of countries, across regions and income levels. Comparability is assessed according to the database available here. Although 168 countries have an international poverty estimate in the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), significantly fewer have a shared prosperity estimate due to the more stringent data requirements referenced above.
Overall, the GDSP now includes coverage for approximately 4.4 billion people, around 57 percent of the world’s population in 2019. This is lower than the 74 percent coverage achieved in the 11th edition due to revised poverty estimates for India which produced breaks in comparability with earlier surveys. (See Section 3 of Aron et al. 2023 for a more detailed description of these revisions). (Table 2).
Table 2. Global Database of Shared Prosperity, 12th edition, circa 2015-2020
Country Group
|
Population, Millions
|
Number of Economies
|
|
All economies
|
Economies with poverty rate
|
Economies with SP
|
All
|
Economies with poverty rate
|
Economies with SP
|
East Asia & Pacific
|
2,106.5
|
2,064.4
|
1,990.8
|
26
|
20
|
7
|
Eastern Europe & Central Asia
|
495.2
|
495.0
|
438.6
|
31
|
30
|
24
|
Latin America & the Caribbean
|
641.0
|
599.5
|
559.4
|
31
|
24
|
15
|
Middle East & North Africa
|
409.9
|
398.7
|
192.2
|
14
|
12
|
2
|
South Asia
|
1,861.6
|
1,823.8
|
245.1
|
8
|
7
|
3
|
Sub-Saharan Africa
|
1,121.5
|
1,100.5
|
145.7
|
48
|
45
|
4
|
Rest of the World
|
1,108.4
|
1,039.6
|
824.5
|
60
|
30
|
23
|
Fragile and conflict-affected
|
926.0
|
833.2
|
33.1
|
39
|
33
|
1
|
IDA and blend
|
1,699.2
|
1,625.4
|
274.2
|
74
|
66
|
6
|
Low income
|
680.0
|
597.0
|
94.6
|
27
|
25
|
3
|
Lower middle income
|
3,313.9
|
3,297.7
|
1,053.3
|
55
|
53
|
14
|
Upper middle income
|
2,483.9
|
2,464.1
|
2,298.2
|
55
|
45
|
23
|
High income
|
1,266.2
|
1,162.8
|
957.5
|
80
|
45
|
38
|
Total
|
7,744.09
|
7,521.57
|
4,403.5
|
218
|
168
|
78
|
Sources: 12th edition of the GDSP Global Database of Shared Prosperity); World Development Indicators (WDI); http://data.worldbank.org/products/wdi
Note: Population data are from 2019. The list of IDA countries and economies in fragile and conflict-affected situations is from fiscal year (FY) 2024. Number of economies with poverty rate counts economies that reported poverty estimates in 2012 or later. SP = shared prosperity indicator. Averages across economies are simple averages, not population weighted.
Last Updated: Dec 19, 2023