Poverty and inequality

Poverty and inequality are complex social phenomena that can be defined in different ways and framed in terms of three overarching ‘meta-dimensions’ – depth (or severity), breadth (or multidimensionality) and duration (or persistence). Few concepts or measures come close to capturing the full complexity of these phenomena and some approaches even allow for a certain amount of imprecision in their specification. The relationship between poverty and inequality is also complex and varies across time and geographical space. As globalisation has gathered pace, economic growth has been associated with both reductions in global poverty and greater disparities in wealth.