ABSTRACT

The need for reliable estimates of poverty, inequality and life condition indicators for communities across the globe has increased substantially in recent years, due in large part to the more detailed information needs of policy makers charged with developing strategies for poverty alleviation. In particular, there has been a steep increase in the demand for more detailed information about the geographic distribution of these indicators. As a consequence, poverty maps have become a powerful tool for designing better policies and interventions, and many national statistical agencies are now developing, evaluating and implementing poverty estimation methodologies. An example is the major investment that the European Commission has made in funding the research projects SAMPLE (Small Area Methods for Poverty and Living condition Estimates – https://www.sample-project.eu" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">www.sample-project.eu) and AMELI (Advanced Methodology for European Laeken Indicators – https://www.unitrier.de" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">www.unitrier.de).