period 1980–1998. It examines the spread, depth and severity of poverty for the region as
well as for specific countries, in part by summarizing country case studies conducted by the
African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). The review of the literature reveals that
poverty rates in Africa are exceptionally high (relative to rates in other developing regions)
and getting worse. In the mid-1990s, the mean head-count ratio for the whole region was …