联合国西亚经济社会委员会-减贫：增长和再分配组成部分（英）

Poverty reduction: growth and redistribution components E/ESCWA/CL2.GPID/2025/TP.5 Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia Poverty reduction: growth and redistribution components United Nations Beirut © 2025 United Nations All rights reserved worldwide Photocopies and reproductions of excerpts are allowed with proper credits. All queries on rights and licences, including subsidiary rights, should be addressed to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), email: publications-escwa@un.org. Authors: Khalid Abu-Ismail, Rihab Baltaji and Vladimir Hlasny The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Links contained in this publication are provided for the convenience of the reader and are correct at the time of issue. The United Nations takes no responsibility for the continued accuracy of that information or for the content of any external website. References have, wherever possible, been verified. Mention of commercial names and products does not imply the endorsement of the United Nations. References to dollars ($) are to United States dollars, unless otherwise stated. Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. United Nations publication issued by ESCWA, United Nations House, Riad El Solh Square, P.O. Box: 11–8575, Beirut, Lebanon. Website: www.unescwa.org. 2400276E Key messages • Poverty reduction in countries can be traced back to growing standards of living of ordinary households, to pro-poor redistribution across countries’ citizens, and possibly to the evolving definition of who is considered poor. These can be expressed by the elasticities of poverty reduction to growth, to inequality and to poverty line changes. • Across the vast majority of world regions and country-income groups, the growth elasticity of poverty reduction dominates, while the other two elasticities are also important but cannot be easily ranked. Coupled with the higher observed year-to-year changes in mean income compared to changes in inequality – or in poverty lines – this corroborates that the growth component in poverty reduction is typically much higher than the redistribution component. • Hence, consistent poverty reduction in most types of countries requires first and foremost steady economic growth, and only secondarily pro-poor redistributive policies. v Contents Key messages iii Introduction 1 1. Poverty, growth and inequ