VOA标准英语2010年-Study: More Poor People in India than

According to a new study more people live in poverty in eight Indian states than in 26 of sub-Saharan Africa's poorest countries. The creators of the new study said the level of poverty in South Asia compared to Africa was a surprising discovery.

 The Multidimensional Poverty Index takes into account issues such as health and education and whether or not people have access to clean water and electricity. 

Sabina Alkire is director of the Oxford¹ Poverty and Human Development Initiative and she co-created the new index.

"One striking feature is that most of the poor people live in South Asia – 51 percent of the 1.7 billion people that we have identified as poor are resident in that continent," says Alkire. "And it is not only the number, but also the intensity²."

She says about one-quarter of the world's poor live in Africa, according to the MPI.

"When we compare the 26 poorest countries of Africa with states in India that have the same intensity of deprivation³, we find there are more poor people with this intensity of deprivation in India than in sub-Saharan Africa. And that is quite striking," Alkire adds.

Alkire says the new Index paints a different and sometimes surprising picture of poverty than studies that look at income alone.

 For example, in Ethiopia 90 percent of people are 'MPI poor' compared to the 39 percent who are classified as living in 'extreme poverty'. And 1.7-billion people living in the countries covered by the Index live in poverty according to the MPI – that is higher than the 1.3-billion people who live on $1.25 a day or less.

Alkire says a benefit of the new index is that it shows how poverty affects people living in different regions of a country.

"So we looked at Kenya, where Nairobi has the poverty of the Dominican Republic – not too much poverty – whereas the northeastern rural area of Kenya is worse than our poorest country, Niger, with more than 90 percent of people poor," Alkire said.

She says it also shows the range of poverty amongst different ethnic⁴ groups – she says in some countries the variety is tremendous.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index was developed by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative with support from the United Nations. It will be featured in the upcoming UNDP Human Development Report, replacing the Human Poverty Index.

Researchers analyzed⁵ data from 104 countries with a combined population of 5.2 billion – just under 80 percent of the world's total population.

 

1 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

2 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

3 deprivation   

n.匮乏；丧失；夺去，贫困

参考例句：

• Many studies make it clear that sleep deprivation is dangerous.多实验都证实了睡眠被剥夺是危险的。
• Missing the holiday was a great deprivation.错过假日是极大的损失。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》