Database and Development Indicators

In 1999, ADB announced its vision of an Asian and Pacific Region that is free of poverty. ADB's poverty reduction strategy paper spells out the steps to be taken to support development of specific poverty reduction strategies for each borrowing country. These start with a thorough analysis of poverty in the country, which requires a benchmark database that will facilitate a comprehensive understanding of poverty and its determinants.

ADB is accelerating its program to build a poverty database on each of its borrowing countries. This exercise will identify the gaps in data currently available and steps will be taken to fill these, to the extent possible, in cooperation with countries concerned and other agencies.

Since poverty measurement is a complex matter, ADB helps borrowing countries improve their capacity to generate timely and reliable data, as well as indicators that are comprehensible and easily used.